Just a Scrape
by superwho-rhi
Summary: Rhiannon is just your average run-of-the-mill ER nurse. She lived a simple life, working it away...until a pair of gorgeous brothers show up in her ER... (takes place about mid-season four, sometime between the episodes Family Remains and Criss Angel Is a Douchebag)
1. Chapter 1

"Just know that you are lucky little bitch and that I hate you," I hear behind me. I cringe internally at the curse word, I hate them. Turning around I see Beth staring me down with an evil stare.

"What are you talking about?" I say, turning back around to finish pouring my cup of coffee. I was currently on hour number four of a twelve hour overnight shift, I needed the caffeine.

"You have a new patient," she says crossing her arms. "And he is gorgeous. And so is his brother he has with him. Like I said: luck little b-"

"Okay, I gotcha," I say cutting her off. I let out a sigh as I follow her from the break room to the massive nurses' station in the middle of the ER. I give her my full attention as she gives me the rundown of the 'gorgeous' guy waiting for me in the pod. Once she is finished, I down the last bit of coffee in the tiny Styrofoam cup. "Thanks Beth," I tell her before heading off to the pod.

Before I walk into the room I barely open the blinds to get a look at the guys inside. Unfortunately their backs are to me. "So much for preparing myself," I mutter as I close the blinds again. Taking a deep breath, I slide open the massive glass door as I walk in the pod. "Well howdy there, gentlemen," I say sliding the door back closed while playing up my accent slightly. I wasn't from around here, so the locals that came in always found my deep southern drawl amusing. I turn around from the door and see both of them staring at me. _Crap, they are gorgeous…_ Shaking my head slightly, I continue on. "My name is Rhiannon and I will be your nurse tonight," I say walking up to them. I immediately identify the one with the shorter hair as my patient, seeing as how he had a nasty looking cut on his forehead.

"Nice to meet you Rhiannon," the taller one says. "I'm Sam and this is my brother-"

"Dean Nugent?" I say cutting him off, while looking at the chart. "Glad to meet you both," I say flashing them a smile. "Now Dean, why don't you go ahead and hop up on the bed and regale me with the tale of how you go that cut while I wash my hands?"

Dean looks at me incredulously. "Yes ma'am," he says, almost disbelieving. I give him a little smirk before turning my back to him as I start washing my hands. "Well, um, what happened was…" I turn back around as I'm drying my hands to see him looking at Sam with wide eyes, almost asking him to help him out.

"You see, my brother, uh…" Sam starts to say, also not sure what to say.

_Great…a couple of geniuses in here tonight… _"How about, you were walking home from the bar with your brother and as you passed a dark alley way you saw a damsel in distress being attacked so you swooped in and saved the day?" I say walking over to him. "Sounds a lot better than I hit my head on a cabinet corner, doesn't it?"

"I didn't hit my head on a cabinet!" Dean says defensively.

"Sure you didn't," I say laying out gauze and other supplies to clean his cut. "Now shush it up so I can get you out of here quicker so you can go take on some more scary cabinets."

I heard him let out a frustrated sigh as I start cleaning away the blood. The room is silent for a few minutes as I work as before Sam speaks up. "So, that accent isn't from around here," he says. "Where are you originally from?"

"Georgia," I say looking at the cut. I really had no clue why he came in for this, it wouldn't even need stitches. "How about you boys? Where are y'all from?"

"Here and there," Dean says.

"That sounds fascinating," I say, letting the sarcasm drip through. "Now stop talking. I can't clean this with your face moving." _Not to mention it's hard to focus on it when your gorgeous green eyes are only centimeters away. _

"What brought you to the area?" Sam pries.

"School," I say. "After I graduated I just hung around." Finally, I place a couple butterfly bandages over the cut. "Alrightey Mr. Nugent, you're all set to go."

"What?" he says, not believing me. "That's it?"

"Yeah," I say staring at him, not believing his attitude. "That's it, it was just a little cut. No stitches or nothin'." I arch an eyebrow as I watch Dean look over at Sam with a furious glare. As I look over at Sam, Dean grabs up his leather jacket and storms out of the room. "You're welcome," I call out after him.

"Sorry about that," Sam says walking up to me. "Hospitals make him antsy."

"I wouldn't call that antsy," I say, letting out a light laugh.

"Yeah," he says rubbing the back of his neck. "Hey, let me ask you a question. Have you noticed anything strange happen around town lately?"

"Like a guy comin' into the ER for a scrape?" I say with a laugh.

"No," he says, letting a single chuckle escape. He takes a deep breath, looking around the room and out the door before continuing. "I mean like…I don't know, flickering lights? Electronics not working right? Black…smoke?"

Despite my concern for his mental state, I let out another laugh. "No, sorry, I haven't," I say, shaking my head.

Sam lets out a sigh before giving me a kind smile. "Alright, that's fine," he says. "Thank you for patching up my brother," he says starting to back out of the room.

"Anytime," I say giving him a small wave before he disappeared behind the blinds.

A few hours later, I'm sitting at the nurses' station, fully engrossed by my book. We hadn't had a single patient come in since the Nugent brothers. "Hey," I hear above me. I look up from my book and see Linda, the charge nurse for the night sitting down next to me. "Why don't you go ahead and head home?"

"Really?" I say, happiness filling my chest.

"Yeah, we're probably gonna be slow the rest of the night," she says. "It is a Wednesday."

"Oh, thank you Linda," I say gathering up my things.

"You're welcome," she says waving me off. "Now get out of here before I change my mind."

I give her a wave as I sling my bag over my head, letting the strap drape across my chest and the bag resting on my hip. Once I'm out in the night air, I take a deep breath, relishing in my newfound freedom. Opening my eyes, I start to head down the sidewalk towards my apartment building. As I start down the sidewalk, I look up past the street lights to make out the few stars that I can see. It was a rare treat for me, since I usually went into work when the sun was up and didn't leave until it was back up again. Letting a smile creep onto my lips, I continued walking. _Geez, I didn't realize I live this far from the hospital…_I'm not sure if it's the dark surrounding me, but it seems to be taking forever to get home. _Don't let the dark freak you out…_

As I'm walking, I notice the air around me get colder. Rubbing my hands over my bare arms to warm myself up, I look up again at the stars, but this time notice the street lights above me starting to flicker. I stop cold in my tracks. As I'm coming up with different scenarios in my head as to what could be going on, I feel a pair of strong hands grab me around my waist and shoulders, pulling me to my right. I try to scream, but am paralyzed with fear. Once I'm stopped moving, a hand comes down over my mouth as I'm being pushed up against a wall.

I try to look into the face of my attacker, but there are too many shadows being cast on his face for me to get a good look at him. I see a pair of white teeth appear as an evil grin spreads over his face. "That was almost too easy," he chuckles. As he moves the hand not covering my mouth, I use all my body weight to push against him. Not expecting my defensive shove, the attacker stumbles backwards, allowing me a moment to run away. I head towards my right, towards the street when I suddenly feel my feet hit something solid, causing my whole body to lurch forward. Before I hit the ground, I think I see two figures running towards me from the street. I'm not sure though, cause in the next second, everything goes black.


	2. Chapter 2

"_Maybe we should call him?" _I hear someone whisper. I think I'm hearing someone whisper anyways.

"_Hell no!" _Someone else whispers. "_We are not calling him!" _

I listen to the two unknown figures whisper back and forth for a few more seconds before coming to the conclusion that I'm not dreaming. Slowly I open my eyes and try to take in my surroundings. As my vision starts to unblur, I notice two figures standing at the end of the bed I was laying on.

"You've got to be kidding me," I croak out as I recognize the two tall men standing at the end of the bed. At the sound of my voice, they both turn their heads to look at me.

"See, she's fine," Dean says. "We aren't calling him."

"Fine," Sam says. I close my eyes as he starts to walk towards me. The bed jostles a little bit as he sits on the edge. "How are you feeling?"

"My head hurts," I say opening my eyes again. Lifting my head slightly, l look around to see I'm in a motel room. "Where am I? And why are you two here?"

"Oh, you're welcome for saving your ass," Dean grunts.

"What my brother means is that we saw you get pulled into that alley and we came and rescued you," Sam says gently.

"Well thank you, Sam," I say. He extends his hand as I grab for it to sit up. Once I'm sitting up, my head swims a little bit. "Woah."

"Do we need to bring you to the hospital?" Sam says with a concerned look.

"No," I say at the same time as Dean. I look up and see him staring down at me with a frustrated look. "I'll be okay," I say looking back at Sam.

"Yeah, last thing we need is for her to be getting attacked again," Dean says shrugging out of his coat.

"Um, sorry I was just walking home," I say to him.

"What person in their right mind walks home, alone, in the middle of the night?" he asks.

"What person in their right mind comes into the ER with a scrape on their forehead?" I snap back. Dean stares at me hard before throwing his hands in the air. "Now which one of y'all are gonna tell me what happened back there?" I ask.

"You were attacked," Sam says simply.

"By who? Or should I say what?" I say bluntly. Both of them stare at me with nervous looks. "Oh spare me the made up story," I say pushing myself to the edge of the bed. "Sam, everything you asked me about, it happened right before that jerk yanked me into the alley."

"Freak coincidence," Dean says.

"There are no such things as coincidences," I scoff. With a rush of adrenaline, I push myself off the bed and walk up to Dean. "What. Grabbed. Me." Before he can answer, my eyes start to fuzz out and I feel myself falling.

"_Shit!" _I hear before a piercing pain in my head causes everything to go black.

"Ow!" I hiss. I reach up to figure out what the pain was coming from when a hand stops me.

"Oh cool your jets nurse betty we're just cleaning you up," I hear Dean grunt. Opening my eyes I see Sam dabbing at my forehead with a towel.

"Don't use a towel," I say knocking Sam's hand away. I sit up as he gives me a confused look. "The fibers will only soak up more blood."

"Oh," Sam says. "I'll go get something else." I watch as he gets up and walks into the bathroom. Looking around I see Dean sitting on a raggedy couch watching tv.

"What are you doing," I say walking over to him slowly.

He looks up at me as I sink down on the couch next to him. "Well lookey there," he says with a smirk. "You walked more than five feet without falling. Good for you."

"You're a jerk, you know that?" I say as Sam comes back into the room.

"Jerk? Wow, that hurt," Dean says sarcastically. I roll my eyes at him as Sam starts cleaning the cut on my forehead.

"Let me guess," I say. "I passed out again and hit my head."

"Ding, ding, ding, we have a winner," Dean says pointing a hand into the air. "Son of a bitch you are a smart one."

Without even thinking about it, I reach back and smack him upside the head. "No cursin," I say. I look up at Sam and see him smirking at me.

"'No cursing?' Seriously?" Dean says. He looks from me, to Sam, then back to me. "I need a beer."

"Grab me one too," I say with a smirk. I hear him muttering as he walks out the door. I turn back to Sam. "So, are you gonna tell me what grabbed me?"

"I don't know," he says hesitantly.

"Might as well Sammy," Dean says as he walks back in. "It was a demon that grabbed you."

"A demon?" I squeak. "Like: hell, pitchfork, steal your soul, red tails, and horns demon?"

"Not quite like that," Sam says. "But yes, a demon from hell."

"Okay, so a demon grabbed me and was gonna do what to me?" I ask them.

"Wait, wait, wait…you believe us?" Dean asks, not believing me.

"Yeah," I say shrugging my shoulders. "My, uh, long story short, I grew up with my grandmother and she believed in all that stuff. Would always 'bless' me before I left the house to ward off evil spirits, hid vials of salt in my backpacks, and other stuff that I thought was crazy back then."

"What, your grandma was a witch?" Dean asks.

"No, heck no, she'd probably haunt your butt for even saying that," I say with a half laugh. "She called herself a medicine woman. Was always cooking up some remedy for the neighbors out the back door, usually cured whatever it was they came callin for."

"Great," Dean says throwing his hand in the air, looking at Sam. "Cas had us rescue a friggin witch's granddaughter."

"First off, she was not a witch," I say half shouting at him. "Second, who is 'Cas'? Third, I never asked you to rescue me!"

"Oh yeah, I'm sure you could've handled him all on your own knocking yourself out and everything," he says giving me a smirk.

"Well I'm sure whatever he would've done to me would've been a heck of a lot better than sitting in a rundown motel room with an egotistical pi-"

"Okay, enough you two," Sam says cutting me off. "Dean, don't call her grandmother a witch. Rhiannon, no, whatever that demon had planned for would _not _have been better. And to answer your question Cas, or Castiel, is a friend of ours who told us we needed to keep you safe."

"I'm sorry Sam, thank you," I say. "I do appreciate y'all rescuin me. But why? Why am I so important to keep safe?"

Before Sam can answer, we all three hear a rustling behind us. "That is not something that can be revealed to you yet," a gruff, deep voice says. I spin around to see a man standing there in a suit and long trench coat. My jaw falls slack at the sudden appearance of the man. He ignores my expression and acknowledges Sam and Dean.

"Who are you?" I ask standing up to face him better.

"My name is Castiel, I am an angel of the Lord," he says simply yet seriously.

"A…a what?" I ask him. All this angel and demon talk was making my injured head spin. "I need to sit down," I say sitting back down on the couch.

"I think you need a beer," Dean says. I nod weakly as he gets up and walks out the door. Half a second later, Castiel had taken his spot.

"I assume Dean and Sam have already informed you about the impending Apocalypse," Castiel says.

"The what?" I screech.

"Uh, Cas, we hadn't gotten that far," Sam says.

"Oh," Castiel says. "Regardless, you shall play a key part in it and we need to insure that you stay safe."

Instead of responding I stand up and start pacing. After a couple seconds Dean returns with my beer. Before he can even shut the door, I grab the beer out of his hand. Twisting the cap off with my shirt, I chug the beer in one shot.

"Holy crap," Dean says as I roughly wipe my mouth off with the back of my shirt.

"Okay, so let me get this straight," I say sitting my beer down on the little table that was in front of the couch. Before I continued, Dean took the spot I had been occupying on the couch. I start pacing again as I start thinking out aloud to the three of them. "You two come into my ER with some crap scratch on your forehead to scope me out or whatever. Follow me while I am on my way home where I am deterred by some demon who wants to do only God knows what with me. Then you two carry me back here where this trench coated guy shows up spouting that he's an angel of the Lord and that I am some pivotal player in the supposed upcoming Apocalypse."

"Well, I mean if we can stop Lucifer from springing out of his box there won't be an apoca-" Dean starts to say.

"I don't really care," I say holding a hand up to stop him. I take a deep breath as I pinch the bridge of my nose. "Just answer me this," I say after a minute. "Dean, how did you get that cut on your forehead?"

The three of them stare at me. "Seriously?" Dean says arching an eyebrow at me. "After all that crap you just spouted off you're concerned with how I got a cut on my forehead."

"Yes I am," I say nodding my head. "Cause if I focus on the other stuff I'm likely to pass out for a third time tonight and I really don't feel like doing that again."

"Good point," Sam says. "Look, I hate to bring on more bad news but you aren't going to be able to stay here."

"What?" I say.

"There's a good chance that demon had already alerted others of where you are," he says. "So…"

"I gotta move," I say starting to pace.

"Not that simple either," Dean says. "You're gonna have to come with us."

I can't help the hysterical laugh that escapes. "I will do a lot of things," I say pointing at them. "But over my dead body will I ever, _ever _go with y'all."

A split second later Castiel disappeared from the couch. Half a second later I hear him appear behind me. I spin around to face him as I watch him lift a finger to my forehead. Before everything went dark for a third time that night I heard Dean curse, "_Dammit Cas!" _

**A/N: Hey everyone! I hope you're enjoying the story so far! Please, please, please feel free to leave reviews and to follow! :) **


	3. Chapter 3

The smell is what woke me up this time, the smell of mold, fungus, coffee, and alcohol. Reaching up, I try unsuccessfully to rub the smell away. "She's awake," I hear a familiar voice say.

"I swear," I say before opening my eyes. "I swear if I open my eyes and I am in a different place than that rundown motel, I swear heads are gonna roll."

The room is stone silent as I slowly open my eyes and see that I'm in a shabby looking living room. "We didn't plan on knocking you out," I hear Sam say. "That was Cas."

"She wasn't going to come quietly," I hear Cas grunt. I sit up on the window bench they had me lying on as he continues. "She left me no other option."

"Just a heads up on dealing with me," I say looking at the three of them plus an older man that was lurking in the corner. "I'm stubborn, but I usually give in after a while. So, no need to angel-stun me or whatever you did."

"I'm sorry," Castiel says. "But we couldn't take the chance of-"

"I know, demons finding me," I say. I look around the room and notice stacks of books and papers all over and an opening leading to a small kitchen. "Where am I anyways?"

"That'd be my house," the older man says. "Bobby Singer, nice to meet you."

"You too," I say giving him a smile. Rolling my neck, I look down and see I'm still in my scrubs from work. I let out a half chuckle. "So, what's the chances of me getting some different clothes?"

"After we get some food," Dean says. "I'm starving."

A little while later we're all sitting around the tiny table in Bobby's kitchen eating while the boys filled me in on their "job" and Cas filled me in on the seals. About half-way through I lost my appetite. "Okay," I say pushing away my half eaten burger. "So I just have one question, how did y'all find me?"

"What?" Dean says around a mouthful of food.

"How did you find me?" I say. "I mean, it's not like I'm from where I lived, haven't been there long, no family to speak of…how did you find me?"

"We have our ways," Dean says giving me a smirk.

"The angels have always known where you've resided," Cas says. "Since the seals have begun to break we've decided to step in to ensure your safety."

"Oh, okay," I say with a half shrug. "So, how are we getting me back to my apartment so I can get some clothes?"

"Excuse me?" Dean says. "You're kidding right?"

"Not even a little," I say. "Where in the country are we?"

"Sioux Falls, South Dakota," Bobby says.

"You mean to tell me y'all drove me all the way from Burlington, Iowa to South Dakota?" I half screech.

"What part of 'we have to keep you safe' don't you understand?" Dean says standing up, towering over me.

Not to be challenged, I stand up, causing us to be standing chest to chest. Even though I am a good ten inches shorter than him, I stare him down like I was eye level to him. "I understand that perfectly and I've already expressed my gratitude for it. What I don't appreciate is the fact that y'all didn't even give me chance to think before you were whisking me across the gosh dern country!" I say to him through gritted teeth.

"Look," Sam says grabbing Dean's shoulder. At his touch, Dean broke the stare down with me and took a couple steps back. "We're sorry we didn't give you time to grab anything, but like Dean said, it was to keep you safe. Maybe Cas could zap you back there real quick so you can get some clothes?"

"I would be able to do that," Cas says walking up to me. Before I can ask what he means by zapping me there, Cas places his hand on my shoulder and I'm standing in my apartment.

_Dean's Point of View_

A blink later and she was gone. "Dude," I say spinning around to face Sam and Bobby. "Of all the chicks in the world, Cas had to have us pick that one up?"

"What's wrong with her?" Sam says.

I stare at him deadpan. "She's a pain in the ass man!" I say.

"She's not that bad," Sam says. I roll my eyes at him as I walk to fridge and snag one of Bobby's beers. I could tell just by the way Sam would look at her he was crushing on her.

"Yeah," I say sarcastically. "She's a peach."

"Boys," Bobby chastised us. "You two are gonna be stuck with her for a while, so you might as well suck it up."

"Thank you for letting her stay here by the way," Sam says.

"Not a problem," Bobby says waving us off. "Maybe it'll be nice to have female around here, even if she is southern."

"And what is so wrong with Southern women?" we hear her thick southern drawl say. I spin around to see her standing with her arms crossed over her chest, a hip cocked out, with Cas standing next to her laden down with bags. I look over at Sam and give him a _seriously _look.

_Rhiannon's Point of View_

"Thank you Cas for carryin my bags," I say looking at him, giving him a smile. He looks back at me with a serious face.

"I really need to be going," he says. Before anyone can say anything, he disappears, causing my bags to crash to the ground.

"Does he do that often?" I ask the two boys staring at me with disbelieving faces. "Cause I have this feelin he does that often."

"What's up with all the bags?" Dean asks gruffly, ignoring my question.

I let out a huff. "Well I figured I'm probably gonna be here a while so…," I say. I bend down to pick up one of the bags. I had this feeling that the boys weren't going to help me carry them, so I piled them all on my shoulders. "Now which room am I in?"

"Up the stairs and the second door on the left," Bobby says. I give him a nod of thanks. "Now hold up young lady," he says. I turn around to see him staring at Dean and Sam. "I'm sure these two fine, upstanding idjits would be more than happy to carry those bags for you."

"Oh, yeah, of course," Sam says, jumping like he had been shocked. I give a tired smile as him and Dean take my bags from me. I follow them up the stairs as they lead me to my room. Once we are in the shabby looking room, Dean and Sam place my bags on a bench at the foot of the bed.

Before they leave the room, I stop them. "Look guys," I say as they turn around. Sam gives me an expectant look as Dean gives me an annoyed one. Even though they are brothers, I could already tell that their personalities were completely different and I was likely to get along with Sam the easiest. "I really, really, really do appreciate you guys saving me earlier. I just, this is just a lot to take in. I'm tryin my best not to be a total pain in the butt, I know I can be sometimes. But like I said, I really do appreciate what y'all are doing for me," I say. As I talk, Dean's annoyed face eases up towards me. "And, I know y'all probably won't let me go out with you on your 'hunts' or trips or whatever you call them, but if you need any help with them just let me know. I am kind of knowledgeable about some of this stuff and some of it may be stuff y'all don't know," I offer up.

"Thanks," Dean says gruffly. "We'll take that into consideration. Get some sleep." Before Sam can say anything, Dean pushes him out the room and follows him, shutting the door behind them.

I let out a sigh, staring at the door where the two men had just stood. Sitting down on the edge of the bed, I take my hair out of the braid it was still in from my shift at work. After my hair is down and hanging down around me, I take a look around the shabby room. With another sigh, I stand up and gather up some stuff to take a shower. As I gather up my stuff, I mutter to myself, "Should've just stayed at work…"

**A/N: Hope everyone is enjoying the story! Please review! I'd love to know what people think of it!**


	4. Chapter 4

_Dean's Point of View_

The sound that woke me up wasn't a sound I was used to hearing at Bobby's. I rolled over on my makeshift bed on the floor and lift my head towards the sizzling and popping sound. In the kitchen, I see a girl standing at the stove, long, curly brown hair swishing around the middle of her back. _Must be the girl, _I think to myself, remembering that we had brought her here last night. With a grunt, I push myself onto my knees, and then stand up. Once standing, I lift my head to see her looking at me, an indescribable smirk on her face.

"Mornin Sleepin Beauty," she says as I walk into the kitchen.

"Same to you," I grunt.

"I don't know if you're a coffee drinker but I got some made up," she says. Nodding my head, I walk over to the ancient coffee pot and pour myself a cup. Once I have the cup full, I look over at Rhiannon standing at the stove. I watch her as she pushes some bacon around in a skillet and then reaches over to flip a row of pancakes. After the pancakes are flipped, exposing the gooey batter side, I turn my attention to her face. She looked different with her hair down, less authorative like when she was in nurse mode. _She actually doesn't look half- _"Didn't your momma ever tell you it's impolite to stare?" she says suddenly.

Snapping out of my inner thoughts, I shake my head as she looks up at me with that smirk. "I may have heard that," I mumble. "So, did you sleep alright?"

She gives a shrug. "As best as I could," she says.

"So, what's up with the cooking?" I ask, gesturing to the stove.

"Well, I figure I'm going to be living here, might as well contribute something," she says. "Plus I love to cook and I know men love to eat."

"Good combination," I say before taking another drink of coffee. I make my way over to the small table and sit down. A few minutes later Sam comes stumbling into the kitchen, rubbing sleep from his eyes. "Mornin Sammy," I tell him.

He grunts his greeting as he walks over to the coffee pot and pours himself a cup. He tells Rhiannon good morning before sitting at the table with me. Once he's seated, Bobby walks in.

"Ain't smelled those smells in a while," he says looking at Rhiannon cooking.

"Well it's almost done, so go on and have a seat," she says.

"Where'd you get the food?" Bobby asks as he sits down next to Sam.

"I went into town," she says, grabbing four plates out of the cabinet. "I know, I know, 'what if a demon got me?'. Save the speech cause I'm obviously fine. Didn't see anything suspicious. Y'all get to spend one more day with this lovely face."

I look over at Sam and give him an exasperated look. "Yeah, well, just don't leave the house without telling one of us, alright?"

"Yes sir," she says, giving me a too sweet smile. I give her a smirk back as she sits a plate piled with food down in front of me. It all looked extremely good. After she had a plate in front of all of us, she turns back around and heads for the fridge. "And Sam, I took you more as a 'green eater' type of guy, with the salad last night and everything," she says getting in the fridge. "So, I went ahead and got some fruit also."

"Fruit?" I say as she sits a bowl of fruit chopped up into little pieces down in front of Sam.

"Yeah," she says taking the seat next to me. As she sat down I could smell the scent of the food she had cooked mixed with something she was wearing that smelled of grapes. "You know those things that grow in the ground and on trees? They're good for you and make you healthy."

I give her a hard look for her sarcastic comment. _She sure is a sassy little thing. _"Well, I'm a man and I eat meat," I say, taking a hard chomp out of a piece of bacon.

She arches an eyebrow at me as she scoops some of the fruit onto her plate. "And I was your nurse at one time, which means I saw your blood work and you, kid, have enough cholesterol in your blood stream to rebuild the Eiffel Tower."

"Kid?" I scoff at her. "How old are you anyways? 23?"

"Excuse you but I am 27, almost 28," she says.

"Yeah, still younger than me," I say.

"But, I guarantee I've had more schooling than you so that adds years," she says.

"Sweetheart, all the crap I've been through these past few years, as far as you're concerned I'm fifty years old," I tell her.

"Ew," she says scrunching her forehead. "Sam, you want to switch me spots? I'd rather not sit by such an old man."

"Okay, enough you two," Bobby says cutting us off before I could make a snappy comeback. I let out a grunt as I refocus on my food. "I might have a case for you boys if you're ready to hit the road."

"What's up?" Sam says, leaning over to look at Bobby's laptop he had perched in front of his plate.

"Sioux City, Iowa," he starts out with. "Guy drops dead of ten stab wounds, not a tear in his shirt."

Before either me or Sam can respond, Rhiannon starts coughing and grabbing at her throat. Without even thinking about it, I give her a couple good smacks in the middle of her back, making her cough up the strawberry she had been choking on.

"You okay?" Sam asks her.

"Yeah," she says hoarsely. She takes a drink of water before continuing. "Sorry, that thing about the guy just threw me off."

I shake my head at her before digging back into my breakfast. "Welcome to our world," I tell her.

_Rhiannon's Point of View_

I listen in silence as the three men talk about various things that could've happened to the guy in Sioux City. Once I see that all of their plates are empty, I gather them up and place them in the sink.

"You okay with that?" I hear Dean say loudly. I jump at the sound of his voice, dropping the plate I had been washing.

"Me?" I say turning around to see the three of them looking at me. "I'm sorry, what did you say? I wasn't paying attention."

"I said you'll hang back here with Bobby," he says. "Help him run phones and stuff."

"Do I really have a choice?" I ask, arching an eyebrow at him.

"Nope," he says smirking at me. "Not really." Before he could say anything, he walks out of the kitchen, heading for an unknown destination.

"Is he always that…" I say turning to Sam, looking for the right word. "…cantankerous?"

"Yeah," Sam say. "Pretty much. But he grows on you."

"Yeah, grows on you like a fungus," I say. Sam gives me a little smile before following his brother.

A little while later, I wonder outside and see Dean leaning under the hood of an older model black car. "Nice car," I say walking up behind him.

He turns around and looks at me. Standing up , he wipes his hands on a rag. "Thanks," he says.

"At the risk of sounding like an idiot," I say, stuffing my hands into my jean pockets. "What kind of car is it?"

"1967 Chevy Impala," he says, a proud smile crossing his face.

"Oh, so you're one of those guys," I say nodding my head.

"One of what guys?" he says, the smile fading.

"Your car is your baby, right?" I say. "You'd put her before all women?"

He gets an innocent look on his face. "Maybe," he says.

"Let me ask you something," I say after laughing at him momentarily.

"Ask away," he says.

"I'm guessing the name y'all gave me back at the hospital was bogus," I say, leaning against the car. "So what's your real name?"

He stares at me a moment, almost judging whether or not to tell me. "Winchester," he says. "Our last name is Winchester. For obvious reasons, when we go out on jobs, we use fake names."

"Oh, so I was a job?" I say to him.

"Yes…no, I mean," he says tripping over his words. I chuckle a little bit at him getting flustered.

"It's okay," I say. I let out a sigh as I look around at all the old junk cars. "So y'all really don't know why Cas wants me protected or whatever?"

"Nope," he says closing the hood. "He just popped in the other day and said that you had to be protected; that it was a direct order from heaven and that he trusted us the most to do it."

"Wow," I say, my eyes going wide at the thought. "Heaven wants me protected and I was worried about getting a promotion next year."

"Yeah," he says, leaning against the car next to me. "Things really get put into perspective when you get clued into what's really going on doesn't it?"

Before I can respond, Sam walks up, carrying a duffel bag. "Ready to go?" he asks Dean.

"Yeah," Dean says pushing off the car. "Let's roll."

"Oh, hold on," I tell them. They both look at me, pausing what they were doing. "Come stand in front of me and hold out your hands, palm up."

"Um, what?" Dean says looking at me skeptically.

"Just come here," I say rolling my eyes at him. They listen to me as I pull a small vial out of the pocket of my sweater. "Don't laugh at me for this, but I'll sleep better at night if I do this," I tell them. I take the stopper out of the vial before placing my forefinger over the opening. I tip the vial over, letting some of the oil inside spread over my finger. I take my finger and draw a star with the oil in each of their palms. I mutter the short protection spell my granny had muttered a million times when I was younger.

"What was that?" Sam asks me.

"It was a protection spell," I tell them. They both look at me with wary glances. "I don't think it actually holds any power. My granny used to do this to me before I went on trips."

"A spell?" Dean says, staring at his palms. "You did a spell on us?"

I roll my eyes at him again. "Yes, and like I said it doesn't mean anything," I say. "Now shut up about it, get in your car, and be careful."

"Thanks," Sam says. "We'll be careful. You be careful too, alright?"

"Yes sir," I say giving him a tiny, mock salute. In that moment, I'm not sure why, but I have the strongest urge to hug the two very tall men standing in front of me. "Okay well, y'all better hit the road."

"Yup," Dean says with nod. I take a couple steps back as I watch the two of them get in the car and then drive away.

**A/N: Thank you all for reading! Reviews=a happy author! ;) **


	5. Chapter 5

The first time the phone rang at Bobby's without him being there, I freaked. Luckily I was able to recover quickly and barely pull off posing as a chief doctor from the CDC. The next couple weeks went by in a dull routine. The boys were out on jobs, the magicians in Iowa, their old high school in Indiana, and the siren in Iowa. Bobby hardly ever left me at the house alone except when he had to go help the boys with the siren. A few days after he returns, Bobby gets a call from his friend Rufus asking for his help on a case.

"Bobby, I promise I'll be fine here by myself," I insist for the hundredth time.

"I can't take that risk," he says shaking his head. Before I can say anything, I hear the low rumble of the Impala pulling up.

"And what do Sam and Dean think about me tagging along with them?" I ask, placing my hands on my hips.

"Sam is okay with it," he says. "And Dean…"

"Said to lock me in the panic room?" I say, arching an eyebrow.

"Now, I'm not that much of an ass," I hear behind me. Spinning around, I see Dean and Sam standing there. "I at least said to handcuff you to the stove so you could eat." Before I can say anything, Dean walks past me towards Bobby. "Hey Bobby," he says.

"Boys," he grunts. "I've got a case for you." He holds up a manila envelope that Dean grabs from his hand. We all wait in silence as Dean pulls out the papers from the envelope and starts to read them.

"People have stopped dying?" he says.

"What?" me and Sam say simultaneously. He looks down at me and gives me a smile.

"Yeah," Dean says, still flipping through the papers. "Guy gets shot in the chest, walks away. Man with terminal cancer gets the plug pulled on him, wakes up a minute later cancer free."

"Great," Sam says.

"Where is it?" I ask.

"Greybull, Wyoming," Bobby says.

"We better hit the road then," Dean says. "You ready?" he grunts towards me.

"Oh, I'm just jumping outta my shoes to hit the road with you," I say sarcastically. Before I grab up my bag, I walk over and give Bobby a hug. "You be careful," I tell him. Over the past couple weeks I had grown fond of the old man.

"You too," he grunts. After I release him, I grab up my bag and follow the two men from the house after they tell Bobby their own goodbyes.

"You can crawl in the back shorty," Dean says as I hand him my bag to put into the trunk.

"Shorty?" I say, arching an eyebrow at him. "Besides, I can't sit in the back. I get carsick." Not sure what to say to me, Dean just stares at me with a partially open mouth. "I'm just kidding," I say punching him in the stomach. _Rock-hard abs much? _"Lighten up dude, it's gonna be a long car ride if you're this serious the whole ride." Before he can say anything, I saunter to the door behind Sam's. As I'm opening my door, Dean slams the trunk and mutters the whole way to the driver's door.

"What did you say to him?" Sam asks.

"Just the usual smart-aleckness," I say with a shrug.

"You know you shouldn't antagonize him," Sam says.

"I know," I nod my head. "It's just too much fun though."

Sam just shakes his head at me as he climbs into his seat. The car ride to Wyoming was uneventful. I ended up sleeping most of the way there. I was horrible at staying awake when I was riding in the backseat of cars.

"Hey," I hear someone say, shaking my shoulder. Instinctively, without thinking about it I swing my arm towards the voice in a sloppy right hook. "What the hell?" the voice says again. I open my eyes to see Dean staring at me angrily and Sam sitting in the passenger seat, doubled over in laughter.

"What's going on?" I say looking around.

"Why don't you tell me," Dean growls. "You're the one throwing punches!"

"Oh, oops," I say with an innocent smile. "Sorry, was having a bad dream."

Dean rolls his eyes at me as he gets out of the car. I look around and see we're parked outside of some seedy motel. "This is where we're staying?" I ask Sam.

"Yup," he says. A couple minutes later Dean comes back. "What's up?" he asks Dean as he crawls back into the car.

"Got us a room," he says holding up a key.

"Wait," I say before he puts the car in drive. "_A _room?"

"Yeah, a room," he says.

"Oh no no no no no," I say shaking my head. "I am _not _sharing a room with y'all."

"You've got no choice in the matter shorty," Dean says putting the car in drive.

"We can't really protect you Rhi if you're in a different room," Sam says.

"Stop the car Dean," I say. He ignores me and keeps driving. "So help me I will jump out of this piece of crap car if you don't stop it."

Suddenly, Dean slams on the brakes. "What did you call my baby?" he says turning around to look at me. Before he could turn all the way around, I'm already out the car storming to the office. As I'm about to open the door, a pair of strong arms wind around my waist and across my shoulders. I look up and see Dean's head above mine.

"Let go of me Dean!" I say struggling against his arms.

"What's going on here?" Another voice says. I look ahead and see the man from behind the counter looking at us curiously. At the guy's voice, Dean lets go of me.

"Nothing sir," Dean says. "Just a little marital problems, right baby?"

I look up at him incredulously as he wraps a single arm around the back of my shoulders, tightly. He looks down at me a gives me a _don't you dare _look. "Yes sir," I say looking back at the guy. I peel Dean's arm off of me after giving him a sharp jab in the side with my elbow. "I just didn't want to share the same room as my cheating scumbag of a husband, but I guess I'll make do with sharing."

The guy gives us a cautious nod before heading back inside. Once he's back inside, I turn to Dean and give him a shove before heading towards Sam who is standing a little ways down the sidewalk. "What was that for?" he says to my retreating figure.

"For being a jerk," I yell back at him. I turn away from him and follow Sam into the run down motel room. Once in the room, I look around at it: two shabby beds, a small dining table with chairs, and a couch. "I'll take the couch Sam," I say to him.

"You don't have to," he says. "Me and Dean will take turns and you can have one of the beds."

I let out a sigh. "We can argue about this later," I say giving him a smile as I sit down on the couch. He follows suit and sits down next to me. In my tiredness, I lean my head against his tall shoulder. At first he tenses up, and then relaxes. "How mad do you think Dean is at me for calling his car a piece of crap?"

"My advice," Sam says. "I'd do exactly what he says for the rest of the time that we're here. Oh, and also cut down on the sass."

Before I can respond, the door bangs open with Dean walking through the door. "Come on Sammy, suit up," he says, not even paying me any mind. "We gotta go interview Mr. Bullet-to-the-chest."

I sit in silence, flipping through the small tv while the boys took turns changing in the bathroom. The entire time Dean had been in the room, he hadn't looked at me or talked to me. "Listen up shorty," he says suddenly. I perk up and look over at him and see him loading up a sawed-off shot gun. Getting up off the couch, I walk over to him, eyeing the gun. "This is loaded down with salt shots," he says holding up the gun. "Anyone tries to come through the door, you blast them. If that doesn't stop them," he says sitting the gun down on the bed. Next, he picks up a silver flask and shakes it at me. "Soak them with this. It's holy water. It'll burn any black eyed son of bitch."

"Okay," I say nodding my head.

"Have you ever shot a gun before?" he asks me. I nod my head at him. "Good," he says without further question. "We shouldn't be gone more than a couple hours. Once we leave, put a line of salt in front of the door. And don't answer unless it's us. Okay?"

"Okay," I say nodding my head. I really did feel bad for calling Dean's car a piece of crap and throwing a fit about sharing a room with them. "I'm sorry about what I called your car and the way I acted. I know y'all are just trying to keep me safe."

Dean looks me up and down before replying. "It's okay," he says as Sam comes out of the bathroom. "Call us if anything happens," he says as he walks from the room. Before he leaves, Sam tells me goodbye.

Fortunately, nothing happened while the boys were gone. The worst thing that happened was all the crappy shows on tv and the fact that I was starving, but I had a feeling the boys would kill me if I ordered out for pizza. A couple hours after they left, Dean came back to the room and seemed to have forgiven me for my outburst this morning.

"Where's Sam?" I ask, waking up from a nap I was dozing off towards.

Before he answers, Dean gives me a strange look. "He went to talk to the cancer survivor," he says

"What did the guy with the gunshot say?" I ask walking over to the burgers he had sat on the table.

"Not much," he says handing me a burger. "Didn't make any deals, no angels touched him, basically we got nothing."

"Well, then," I say walking over to my bag. "If I learned anything in the couple weeks I spent with Bobby, at this point, we do research." I pull out my laptop and set myself up on the bed and starting searching.

A couple hours later, Sam comes back. "Hey," he says to us as he walks in.

"Find anything?" Dean asks him.

SAM

"That cancer survivor?" he says sitting down at the table across from Dean who was also looking on a laptop. "He was clinically dead, his wife pulled the plug, and now he's taking her out for their twentieth anniversary."

"Any sign of a deal?" I ask him.

"No," he shakes his head at me. "What about you two? Found anyone dying around here?"

"Not since Cole Griffith," Dean says. He had gotten the idea to look at the Greybull Gazette obituaries while I was looking up different possibilities as to what was going on. "He dropped ten days ago. It was the last death I could find."

"So, what are you thinking?" Sam asks.

"Eh, maybe it is what the people say it is," Dean says, standing up from the table and walking around the room. Sam takes his place at the laptop, clicking around.

"Miracles?" Sam scoffs. "Dean, our experience, when do miracles just happen?"

"Well, there's no deals. There's, uh, no skeevy faith healers," Dean says. I look up and see him pouring a cup of coffee from the little coffee pot on the dresser. He looks up at me, gesturing to ask if I want a couple also. I graciously nod my head. "I mean, these souls just ain't getting dragged into the light."

As Dean starts to hand me the cup of coffee, I come across something online. "Maybe 'cause there's no one around to carry them."

Both of the boys look at me with confused looks. Dean sits down on the bed next to me to look at my computer screen. "What do you mean?" he says.

"Well, grim reapers—that's what they do, right?" I say looking up at Sam. As I'm talking Dean reaches around me and I'm vaguely aware of how close he is to me. "Collect souls? So, if death ain't in town—"

"Then nobody's dying," Sam says, realizing what I'm saying.

"So what? The local reaper's on strike? Playing the back nine? I don't know," Dean says, taking a drink of coffee. I take mine out of his hand and take a drink also.

"Well, then, let's talk to somebody who might," Sam says plainly.

"Well, last I checked, huggy bear ain't available," Dean says. I giggle at the reference. I turn my head and see Dean giving me an appreciative smirk.

"No, dude, the kid," Sam says.

"The kid? The kid's passed away," I say, afraid of what Sam was thinking.

"Exactly," he says. "Look, if he was the last person to die around here, then maybe he's seen something. We should talk to him."

"You've got to be kidding me," I say, looking between Dean and Sam wide-eyed.

"I love how matter-of-fact you are about that," Dean says. He lifts his cup to his mouth and gives a half chuckle. "Strange lives."

Half an hour later, the three of us are standing in a cemetery. I look down at the gravestone where Sam and Dean have five candles arranged around a pentacle drawn on a cloth spread over the grave. The headstone reads: _"Beloved Son Cole Griffith 1997 – 2009 Forever In Our Memories_". I look up and see Sam putting a bundle of sticks in the center of the pentacle. Walking over next to Dean, he sits on another gravestone and flips through what he informed me was his dad's journal.

"You sure this is gonna work?" Dean asks.

Sam looks up at him. "No," he says simply. "But if his spirit's around, this should smoke him out."

I watch as Sam pours something into the circle and let out a sigh as Dean slams the journal shut.

"What?" I ask him.

"This job is jacked, that's what," he says.

"How so?" I ask him. Sam looks up, noticing our conversation and start to walk over towards us.

"You want me to gank a monster or torch a corpse, hey, let's light it up, right? But this?" he says gesturing towards Cole's grave. "If we fix whatever this is, people are gonna start dropping dead. Good people."

"Look, I don't want them to die, either, Dean," Sam says.

"But there's a natural order," I say. Dean laughs loudly. "What?"

"You don't see the irony in that," he says shaking his head, looking down. "I mean, Sam and me, we're like the poster boys of the unnatural order. All we do is ditch death."

"Um…excuse me?" I say, staring at him wide eyed.

"Let's just say that me and Dean have both taken dirt naps and woken up from them," Sam says to me. Before I can say anything, he continues on, talking to Dean. "Yeah, but the normal rules don't really apply to us, do they?"

"We're no different than anybody else," Dean says simply.

"I'm infected with demon blood," Sam says. I wasn't sure if they remembered I was there, but I still stood there slack-jawed at this new revelation about the boys. "You've been to hell." At that revelation I slam my mouth shut at this confession. I couldn't imagine Dean in hell, or sweet Sam infected with demon blood. "Look, I know you want to think of yourself as Joe the Plumber, Dean, but you're not. Neither am I. The sooner you accept that, the better off you're gonna be."

Dean looks up at Sam and gives him a smirk. "Ah, Joe the Plumber was a douche."

Sam gives him a small smile in return. "You two gonna help me finish this?"

As Dean pushes himself off the headstone, we hear an unfamiliar voice yell at us. "Hey!" We all three look towards the voice and see a man carrying a flashlight. "What are you doing here?" he asks, shining the light at all three of us.

"Uh—" Sam says glancing at Dean and then me. We both give him lost looks. "Just take it easy." He says to the man.

"What the hell is this?" the man asks, seeing our spread over Cole's grave.

"Okay, this—this—this is not what it looks like," Dean says with a forced laugh.

"Really? 'Cause it looks like devil worship!" the man accuses.

"What? No! No, this is not devil worship," I say. "This—This is—this—this is, uh— " I give up, not having a clue what to say. "I don't have a good answer."

"We're leaving," Sam says.

"You're not going anywhere," the man says. I'm not sure if it was the setting, but I thought I heard a threatening edge to the man's voice. Sam frowns at the man as the man takes a few steps forward. Dean takes a step to his left and stands in front of me. "Ever again. Sam." The man says with an evil smile.

I look around Dean's shoulder in time to see the man's eyes go white. "Alastair," Dean says simply as if he knows the man. Alastair's eyes go back to human. "I thought you got deep fried, extra-crispy."

"Nah. Just the pediatrician I was riding," he says with a chuckle. "His wife's still looking for him. It's hilarious. Anyway." I look over at Sam and see him fuming. "No time to chat," Alastair says. "Now Dean, who's this pretty little thing you have hiding behind you?" I feel Dean reach behind him, grabbing my waist as Alastair flicks his hand. Dean goes flying across the graveyard and collides with the gravestone.

"Dean!" me and Sam yell simultaneously. I try to run towards him, but I feel an invisible hand holding in one spot.

"Oh," Alastair says, like he recognizes me. "It's you." I watch as he takes a couple steps towards me, terror washing over me. "Well, won't Hell be pleased when I show up with you on my arm."

"You aren't taking her anywhere," Sam growls.

Alastair turns back to Sam and flicks his hand, nothing happens. He tries again but fails making Sam smirk.

"You're stronger, Sam," Alastair says. "You've been soloflexing with your little slut?"

"You have no idea," Sam says. I have no clue what either of them is talking about. I watch as Sam flicks his hand, sending Alastair flying and causing me to be released. I fall to the ground once the invisible hand isn't around me anymore. I watch, while crawling backwards on the ground towards Dean, as Sam raises a hand towards Alastair. Suddenly, black smoke comes flying out of the man's body and vanishes into the sky.

Once I reach Dean, I feel at his neck and wrist for a pulse and sigh with relief when I find one. "He's alive," I say to Sam as he comes running up to us. "Come on, we need to get him back to the hotel."

**A/N: Hope you enjoyed it! Sorry it took so long! Please be patient with me on the updates…I try and get them out asap for y'all but between school and work it's a little hard! But please be patient and review away! Reviews=a happy author!**


	6. Chapter 6

The ride back to the hotel was silent. I wasn't exactly sure what to say to Sam after finding out about the demon blood. So, I kept myself busy by riding in the backseat with Dean's head in my lap, making sure he was still breathing and had a pulse. Once we got to the hotel, I helped carry Dean into the hotel room. After we placed him on the bed, Sam muttered something about going to do research at the library before leaving the room. I stared at the door for a second after he left. Shaking my head, I went over to my bag and grabbed my small emergency nursing kit to examine Dean.

A few minutes after I finish checking his blood pressure and pupils, he wakes up. "Hey sleepy head," I say sitting down on the edge of the bed next to him. He tries to sit up, so I push his shoulders back down gently. "Hey, hey, hey, slow your roll."

"What happened?" he says groggily. He lifts his head up and looks around the room. "Where's Sam?" he says, a panic edge to his voice.

"He said something about going to the library to do research," I tell him.

"Oh," he says laying his head back down. "What about you? You okay?"

"Besides being freaked out beyond belief?" I say with a smirk. "Yeah, I'm fine, a lot better than you. I'm pretty sure you just have a concussion. I'm gonna run and make you an ice pack."

I come back a few seconds later with some ice wrapped in a hand towel. "So what happened after I got flung?" Dean asks as I hand him the ice pack as he sits up.

"Um," I say looking down. "I don't know," I say, lying through my teeth. "I passed out."

"Really?" Dean says, looking at me skeptically.

"Yeah," I say nodding my head. I look at everything on Dean's face but his eye, trying to keep up the lie. I hated lying to him, but I had a feeling he didn't know about Sam's abilities. "Alastair said something about walking into hell with me on his arm and then I passed out."

"What?" Dean says.

"Yeah," I say looking down. "I've honestly never been more scared in my life. Dean, it was like he knew me…knew exactly who I was."

"Demons are notorious for getting into your head, especially Alastair," Dean says. "Don't let him get to you."

"Can I ask you a question?" I ask him.

"Can't guarantee you'll get an answer, but sure," he says.

"Did you really die and go to hell?" I ask him. "And does Sam really have demon blood in him?"

Dean gives me a hard look before taking a deep breath and releasing it. "Yes, to both," he says.

"Oh," I say after a minute of silence.

"'Oh'? That's really all you have to say is 'oh'?" he says, not comprehending my answer.

"Yeah," I say with a shrug. "You two are obviously okay and not evil, so I'm not holding that stuff against you."

"Well, either you're an idiot or a much better person than me and Sam combined," he says with a smirk. "But thank you."

I give a smile as the door opens and Sam comes walking in. "How you doing?" Sam asks Dean after greeting us both.

"I'm in pain, that's how I'm doing," Dean grunts at him. I roll my eyes at him as I get up and walk over to my bag to put away my stuff. "She thinks I have a concussion."

"You want some aspirin?" I ask him, shaking the bottle towards him.

"No thanks, House," he says to me. "So, demons, huh?" he says, turning towards Sam.

"Yeah. So much for miracles," Sam says with a shrug. I walk over to the bed and sit down next to Dean again.

"And what the hell happened with Alastair again?" Dean asks him. "Shorty says she passed out so she didn't know."

"He tried to fling me or whatever," Sam says flicking his hand to demonstrate the motion Alastair tried on him, but failed. I watch with baited breath as he walks over to the coffeemaker, curious as to what he was going to tell Dean. "And it didn't work, so he bailed."

"Well, how come he couldn't fling you?" Dean asks him, playing with the ice pack. "He chucked you pretty good last time."

"Got no idea," Sam says, not looking at either of us.

"Sam, do me a favor," Dean says. Sam turns around to face him. "If you're gonna keep your little secrets, I can't really stop you, but just don't treat me like an idiot, okay?"

"What?" Sam says looking innocent. "Dean, I'm not keeping secrets."

"Mm-hm. Whatever," Dean says. I feel him look over at me, like maybe I might speak up. Instead, I'm concentrating very hard on the ends of my hair. With a sigh, Dean changes the subject. "So, did you go back and q-and-a the dead kid?"

Sam comes over and sits on the other bed across from us, holding up a thin notebook. "Didn't have to, Bobby called. He did some digging," he says.

"And?" I ask.

"He thinks Rhiannon's right. Local reaper's gone," he says. "Not just gone—kidnapped."

"By demons?" Dean says. "Why?"

"Listen to this," Sam says, flipping through the notebook and landing on a page. He reads aloud from the notebook. " _And he bloodied death under the newborn sky—sweet to taste, but bitter when once devoured._"

"Nice," I say. "What does that mean though?

"Well, it's from a very obscure, very arcane version of Revelations," Sam informs me.

"Which means what I think it means?" Dean says.

I look at them both, thoroughly confused.

"Basically, you kill a reaper under the solstice moon—tomorrow night, by the way—you got yourself a broken seal," Sam says, picking up on my confusion.

"How do you ice a reaper? You can't kill death," Dean says.

"I don't know. Maybe demons can," Sam says with a shrug. "Where the hell are the angels is what I want to know. We could use their help for once."

"It looks like we're gonna have to take care of this one ourselves," Deans says.

"What are we gonna do," I ask them. "Just swing in and save the friendly neighborhood reaper?"

"You got a better idea Shorty," he says looking over at me. "I'm all ears."

"Dean, reapers are invisible," I say. He had to know this. "The only people that can see them are the dead and the dying."

"Well, if ghosts are the only ones that can see them..." he says, trailing the end of the statement as if it were obvious.

"Yeah?" Sam says, coaxing the answer out of him.

"Then we become ghosts," Dean says, putting the icepack back to his head, smirking.

"You do have a concussion," Sam says, shaking his head at his older brother.

"Sounds crazy, I know," Dean says.

"It is crazy," I say, concerned for him mental status.

Dean looks over at me and smirks more.

Sam looks at him and throws his hands in the air. "How?"

Dean stands up and grabs the Impala keys off the table. "I'll be back in a few hours," he says, back towards the door. I start to protest that he shouldn't be driving with a head injury, when he cuts me off by opening the door. "Don't wait up on me," he says with one last smirk and a wink.

That night, I tossed and turned, worried about Dean. Sam called him a couple times to make sure that he was okay. The next morning as I putting on one last swipe of mascara, I hear the door open. I practically run out of the bathroom in time to see a woman with curly hair and dark sunglasses walk into the room with Dean following her.

"I can't even begin to tell you how crazy you two are," the woman says. I watch as she feels her way around the room and then sits down in a chair.

"Well, Pamela, you're a sight for sore eyes," Sam says.

I watch as Dean closes the door. Pamela tilts her head up towards Sam, lowering her sunglasses far enough to reveal white plastic eyes. I can't help the small gasp that escapes me.

"Aw, that's sweet, grumpy," Pamela says, lifting her glasses back into place. "I'm guessing the gasp of horror came from the girl you were telling me about Dean. I'm Pamela," she says turning towards me. "Nice to meet you Rhiannon. If you couldn't tell, I'm blind. Now, which one of these brainiacs came up with astral projection?"

Dean raises a hand. "Yo."

"Of course. Chachi," Pamela says flipping her hair, a disapproving look on her face. "So, let's be clear. You want to rip your souls out of your bodies and take a little stroll through the spirit world?"

"Mm-hm," Dean says.

"Do you have any idea how heavy-duty insane that is?" Pamela says, folding her arms.

"Maybe, but that's where the reaper is, so..." Sam says.

"So, it's nuts," I say, finally speaking up.

"Exactly," Pamela says.

"Not if you know what you're doing," Dean says looking at her.

"You don't know what you're doing," Pamela says.

"No, but you do," Sam says.

"Yeah, I do. And guess what?" she says. "I'm sick of being hauled back into your angel-demon, Soc-Greaser crap." I decide I really like Pamela for all of her movie references and for thinking the boys were idiots for wanting to do this.

"Look," Dean says. "I'd love to be kicking back with a cold one, watching Judge Judy, too."

"Nice. More blind jokes?" Pamela says, arching an eyebrow.

"You know what I mean," Dean says, an annoyed look on his face. "We're talking the end of the world here, okay? No more tasseled leather pants, no more Ramones CDs, no more nothing." He pauses, gauging Pamela's reaction. "We need your help."

"Fine," Pamela says with a sigh. Before we can even register she's agreed to help, she starts barking orders at us. Sam closes the curtains while Dean flicks closed a lighter and drops it on the table next to some of the several candles I lit around the motel room. He brings one of the candles over to a bedside table, shielding the flame with one hand. Pamela is sitting on a chair between the beds.

"Tell me something, geniuses. Even if you do break into the veil and you find the reaper, how you gonna save it?" Pamela asks the boys. Sam closes the curtains on another window.

"With style and class," Dean says with a smirk.

"You're gonna be two walking pieces of fog who can't touch or move anything," she says. "You'll be defenseless, hotshot."

"I seem to recall a bunch of ghosts beating the crap out of us," Sam says.

"Yeah, well, they had plenty of time to practice," Pamela says.

"Well, then, I guess we got to start cramming," Dean says.

"Wow, couple of heroes," I say with sarcasm.

"Lie down. Close your eyes," Pamela says patting the beds.

Sam and Dean lie down on the bed, Sam lying diagonally.

I watch from the bathroom doorway as Pamela starts chanting. "_Animum vult decipi, ergo decipiatur. Vis, vis, vis_." She pauses a second, turning her head from one boy to the other. "Okay, guys. That's it. Showtime."

"That's it?" I ask her.

"That's it," she says. "All right guys, so, I'm assuming you're somewhere over the rainbow. Remember I have to bring you back." I go over next to Sam and check to see if he has a pulse, it's weak but he has one. I do the same to Dean, sitting on the edge of the bed as Pamela goes and stands over Sam. "I'll whisper the incantation in your ear," she says to the invisible men. She leans over Sam and whispers in his ear. "You have got a great ass."

"Pamela!" I say with a laugh.

"What?" she says, turning to me and gives me a smile. "You can't tell me you don't think the same thing. Besides, they're probably gone by now." I shake my head at her and laugh. "At least now you can stare at Dean without worrying about getting caught."

I snap my head up at her. "Excuse me?" I say.

She gives me a knowing smile. "You know what I'm talking about."

I shake my head at her. "So what now?"

"Now," she says sitting back down in the chair. "We wait."

And that's what we do for the next few hours. Eventually I doze off. Suddenly, I'm woken up by the sound of Pamela chanting. "_Vis, vis, vis," _My eyes fly open as I see some man grabbing Pamela who was bend over Sam, whispering in his ear. Without even thinking about it, I jump on the man's back grabbing him around the neck. Eventually, the demon loses his grip on Pamela who leans over Sam and starts chanting again. Before he reaches for her, he reaches behind him, grabbing the back of my shirt and throws me across the room. I crash into the wall next to the bathroom door, falling to the floor. As I get up, I see the demon grabbing Pamela and throwing her across the room, knocking over candles and the coffeemaker. I stand up and run at the demon, who turns and swings a knife at me, narrowly missing my stomach, cutting me shallowly. I take a swing at the black eyed creature who in turn hits me in the side of the head with the knife, knocking me out.

_Dean's Point of View_

The force of my spirit being pulled back into my body causes me to sit straight up. "What happened?" I say. I look around the room, seeing Pamela sitting on the bed next to mine and Rhiannon laying on the couch, knocked out cold.

"Dean, where's Tessa?" Sam says.

"She's..." I say, looking from Pamela to Rhiannon, wondering what was going on with them.

Pamela takes off her sunglasses and coughs, groaning in pain.

"Pamela, I'm so sorry," Sam says.

"Stop," she says, clearly annoyed.

"You don't deserve this," Sam tells her. I get up and make my way over to Rhiannon, sitting down on the edge of the couch. I place two fingers on her neck to feel for a sign of life. Once I feel her pulse, I push some of the hair out of her face, exposing a welt on the side of her face that was already becoming a bruise.

"Yeah, I don't," Pamela says. "I told you I didn't want anything to do with this. Do me a favor? Tell that bastard Bobby Singer—to go to hell for ever introducing me to you two in the first place."

As Pamela starts coughing, I get up from the couch and walk over to her. "Take it easy, Pamela," I say. "If it's any consolation, you're going to a better place."

She turns her head towards me. "You're lying," she says. "But what the hell, right? Everybody's got to go sometime."

I watch as Pamela beckons Sam closer. "Come here," she tells him. Sam leans close to her while she whispers in his ear.

Pamela suddenly starts coughing again. She leans back against the headboard, a trickle of blood coming out of her mouth, and then is still.

"Pamela?" Sam says, worrying creeping through his voice.

As if in slow motion, I watch Pamela's head slide down. "Pamela!" I half yell.

I look over at Sam, who is still staring at Pamela in disbelief. "What did she say to you?" I ask him.

He doesn't answer me, another secret forming between us.


	7. Chapter 7

**A/N: Thank you all sooooo much for the reviews! I hope that you are enjoying the story so far! :)**

_Rhiannon's Point of View_

The ride from Pamela's funeral was silent. The boys barely said anything, and I definitely wasn't saying anything. Guilt was still pulsating through every vein in my body.

Finally, after an immeasurable amount of time, Sam speaks up. "Ruby will meet us outside Cheyenne. She's been tracking some leads," he says. I perk up at the sound of her name. The boys had briefly told me about her. All I knew was that she was a demon who had helped them at some point in time. "I know she's not exactly on your Christmas list, but if she can help us get to Lilith—"

"Hey, man, work with Ruby or don't," Deans says with a scoff. "I don't really give a rat's ass."

"What's your problem?" Sam says.

"Pamela didn't want anything to do with this and we dragged her back into it, Sam," he says.

"She knew what was at stake," Sam says quietly.

"Oh yeah. Saving the world," Dean says. I could hear the anger and frustration rising in his voice. "And we're doing such a damn good job of it."

"Dean—" I say quietly. I wasn't sure what I was going to say to him. I just knew he shouldn't be the one feeling guilty when I was the one who fell asleep while Pamela was attacked.

"I'm tired of burying friends," Dean says, cutting me off. I look up and see Dean looking at me in the review mirror.

"Look, we catch a fresh trail—" Sam says.

"And we follow it, I know," Dean says. "Like I said, I'm just—I'm just getting tired."

"Well," Sam says, throwing at hand in the air, not sure what to say to his older brother. "Get angry."

A little while later, Sam pulls over to a gas station. While he's out filling up the Impala, I lay my head back with a sigh. "How's your head shorty?" Dean says, turning around to face me slightly.

I instinctively reach up and feel the spot where the demon hit me. "It's fine," I say, trying to give him a convincing smile. He looks at me for a couple beats and then looks down. "Dean," I say, scooting up on the seat a little bit so that I was closer to him. I wait until he's looking up at me again. "I'm really sorry."

"For what?" he says in confusion.

"For Pamela," I say quietly. He continues to look at me in confusion. "Dean, I was asleep when that demon snuck in. I should've…I should've been awake and then maybe I could've been able to help Pamela more or I could've-"

"Hey," Dean says cutting me off. "What happened, happened. You did everything you could have. If anyone should be sorry it should be me."

"Why you?" I say, taking my turn to be confused.

"I-we're supposed to be protecting you," Dean says. "Pretty great job we're doing so far, huh?"

I let out a sigh. "You are such a masochistic, aren't you?"

"A maso-what?" he says.

I let out a small laugh at the confused look on his face. "You just take too much on your shoulders Dean," I tell him. Before he can respond, Sam climbs back in the car and drives on down the road. A couple hours later, we pull up to another shady motel. This time, I keep my mouth shut about sharing a room with the boys.

I stand outside the room next to Dean as Sam unlocks the door. Once he has it open, Dean gets a sarcastic smile on his face. "Ah, home crappy home," he says. I let out a laugh as Sam flips on the light inside the room.

When we step in I look up and see Castiel standing next to a tall, dark skinned man. "Winchester and Winchester," the man says.

"Oh come on," Dean says, clearly annoyed.

"You are needed," the man says.

"Needed?" Dean says, dropping his bag. Me and Sam follow suite and do the same. "We just got back from needed."

"Now, you mind your tone with me," the man says.

"No, you mind your damn tone with us," Dean growls.

"We just got back from Pamela's funeral," Sam says.

"Pamela. You know, psychic Pamela? You remember her. Cas, you remember her. You burned her eyes out. Remember that? Good times," Dean says. "Yeah, then she died saving one of your precious seals. So maybe you can stop pushing us around like chess pieces for five freaking minutes!"

"We raised you out of hell for our purposes," the man says. Suddenly, he turns his head slightly and looks at me, as if he just noticed I was there. "Well, it seems you have been fulfilling at least one of your purposes," he says. "I'm guessing this is the one."

"And who are you?" I ask him. It made my skin crawl the way he said 'the one'.

"My name is Uriel," he says.

"Yeah, what were those again?" Dean says, capturing Uriel's attention again. "What exactly did you want from me?"

"Start with gratitude," Uriel says, narrowing his eyes at Dean.

"Dean, we know this is difficult to understand," Castiel says, sympathy etched across his face.

"And we—" Uriel says, turning to give Castiel a hard look. "—don't care. Now, seven angels have been murdered, all of them from our garrison. The last one was killed tonight."

"Demons?" Dean says, suddenly interested. "How they doing it?"

"We don't know," Uriel says with a sigh.

"I'm sorry, but what do you want us to do about it?" Sam says. "I mean, a demon with the juice to ice angels has to be out of our league, right?"

"We can handle the demons, thank you very much," Uriel says to Sam, puffing out his chest a bit.

"Once we find whoever it is," Castiel says.

"So you need our help hunting a demon?" I say, crossing my arms over my chest.

"Not quite," Castiel says. "We have Alastair."

"Great. He should be able to name your trigger man," Deans says.

"But he won't talk. Alastair's will is very strong," Castiel says. "We've arrived at an impasse."

"Yeah, well, he's like a black belt in torture," Dean says with an unhumorus laugh. "I mean, you guys are out of your league."

"That's why we've come to his student," Uriel says, looking directly at Dean. "You happen to be the most qualified interrogator we've got." I look over at Dean in complete and udder shock. _What was Uriel talking about?_

"Dean, you are our best hope," Castiel says, pleading in his voice.

"No. No way. You can't ask me to do this," Dean says sternly. "Cas. Not this."

"The girl has to come too," Uriel says, walking towards us.

"Excuse me?" I say. "And who says I want to come with you?"

He stops a couple feet in front of us and smirks. "Who said anything about you having a choice?"

Before me or Dean can say anything, everything goes black and I feel like I'm being pulled in every direction at the same time. When I feel my feet on solid ground, I open my eyes and see we are in what looks like a damp cellar. I turn and see Dean looking through a door off to our left. I walk up next to him and see a man tied and chain to what looks like a huge star. I make an educated guess that it is Alastair, but in a new body.

"This devil's trap is old Enochian," I hear Castiel say. I turn and see him and Uriel looking at me and Dean. "He's bound completely."

"Fascinating," Dean says, turning away from the door. He walks up to Castiel and Uriel. "Where's the door?"

"Where are you going?" Castiel says, confusion crossing his face.

"We," Deans says, pointing from me to him. "Are hitching back to Cheyenne, thank you very much."

Dean reaches behind him towards me and grabs my wrist. He pulls me along with him past Uriel and Castiel and then stops suddenly when Uriel appears in his way.

"Angels are dying, boy," he says menacingly.

"Everybody's dying these days. And hey, I get it. You're all-powerful," Dean says, letting go of my wrist. "You can make me do whatever you want. But you can't make me do this. You sure as hell can't make her do anything," he says pointing at me. "What do you have her here for anyways? It's bad enough you all drug here into this life."

"She is here to perform her duty, like you," Uriel says calmly. He gives me a knowing look, as if I know exactly what he's talking about. "But let us pray she won't need to."

"This is too much to ask, I know," Castiel says, before I can ask Uriel anything. "But we have to ask it."

Dean looks at Castiel for a moment, then turns back to Uriel. "I want to talk to Cas alone."

"I think I'll go seek revelation." Uriel says with a nod. "We might have some further orders."

"Well, get some donuts while you're out," Dean says. Normally I would've laughed at the joke, but I was too paralyzed with fear thinking about what my 'duty' was.

Uriel laughs for me. "Ah, this one just won't quit, will he? I think I'm starting to like you, boy."

We all watch in silence at Uriel disappears. Finally, Dean and myself turn to face Castiel. "You guys don't walk enough. You're gonna get flabby." Castiel just stares at Dean. "You know, I'm starting to think junkless has a better sense of humor than you do."

"Uriel's the funniest angel in the garrison," Castiel says. "Ask anyone."

Dean shakes his head as he walks up to Castiel. "What's going on, Cas? Since when does Uriel put a leash on you?"

"My superiors have begun to question my sympathies," Castiel says with a sigh.

"Your sympathies?" I say.

"I was getting too close to the humans in my charge. You." Castiel says, directing his answer at Dean. "They feel I've begun to express emotions. The doorways to doubt. This can impair my judgment."

"Well, tell Uriel, or whoever...you do not want me doing this, trust me." Dean says.

"Want it, no," Castiel says. "But I have been told we need it."

"You ask me to open that door and walk through it," Deans says pointing at the door that was holding Alastair. "You will not like what walks back out."

"For what it's worth, I would give anything not to have you do this," Castiel says, sadness etched on his face.

"And what is my part in all of this?" I say, finally speaking up. Castiel and Dean turn to look at me, as if they had forgotten I was there. "I'm obviously not going into that room with Dean. So what am I here for?"

Castiel lets out a sigh. "I'm sorry, I wish I could tell you," he says. "But I can't."

"Why not?" I all but yell. "I'm so sick of tagging along with everything and not knowing what my part in it is!"

"It is not my place to tell you," Castiel says. "You have to figure it out on your own."

"Well that's just great," Dean says.

"When the situation presents itself you will know your place," Castiel says.

"And what if I refuse?" I say stubbornly.

"You will not," Castiel says. "It is who you are, you will have to choice in it."

"Well," I say. "We'll see about that." I had no clue what Cas was talking about, but I knew if it was something that Uriel wanted me to do, I wasn't going to do it. I had already decided I didn't like the guy.

"Well, I guess I better get started," Dean says with a heavy sigh. Suddenly, a cart with a cloth draped over it appears in front of Dean. He reaches out and starts to push it.

Before he gets too far, I grab the back of his arm to stop him. "Hey," I say. He turns around to face me. "Be careful in there, alright?"

"Always am shorty," he says, giving me a smirk. He turns and starts to head towards the room.

"Dean," I say before he opens the door. He stops once again and turns towards me. I walk up to him and whisper to him, hoping Castiel doesn't hear. "Remember, whatever you do in there, you are still a good-hearted guy."

He looks down at me and gives me a genuine smile. "Thanks…Rhi," he says. I watch as he turns and walks into the room, to do God only knows what.

A few minutes after Dean disappears behind the door, I lean against the wall and look at Castiel. "He's going to be okay, isn't he Cas?" I say. Before he can answer, a pain-filled yell comes from the other side of the door. I look at it with worry on my face.

"That isn't Dean," Castiel says. I look back at him to see him looking at the door. "He will be fine."

I give Castiel a lifeless smile before shutting my eyes, trying to block out the yells. Half an hour later, I'm watching Castiel pace, when suddenly the lights start to flicker. As I stand up from where I was sitting on the ground, a light bulb explodes behind Castiel. When I open my eyes I see a red-haired curl who looks to be my age and size standing behind Castiel.

When Castiel sees her, instant recognition crosses his face. "Anna," he says simply.

She looks at me and then at him. "Hello Castiel."


	8. Chapter 8

"Castiel, who is she?" I ask him.

He turns back to look at me. A slight trace of anger covers his face. "She is an- she used to be part of our garrison," he tells me. After I give him a small nod, he turns back to Anna. "Your human body?"

"It was destroyed, I know," she says. Her eyes cut to me for a millisecond. "But I guess I'm sentimental. Called in some old favors and..."

"You shouldn't be here." Castiel tells her. "We still have orders to kill you."

"Somehow I don't think you'll try." She says, a slightly smug small smile crossing her face. "Where's Uriel?"

"He went to receive revelation," he says.

After cutting her eyes briefly at me for a second time, she answers Castiel. "Right." She says. "Why are you letting Dean do this?"

"He's doing God's work." Castiel says.

"Torturing? That's God's work? Stop him, Cas, please," Anna says. Once again, she cuts her eyes towards me. "Before you ruin one of the only real weapons you have."

"Who are we to question the will of God?" Castiel says. I could hear in his voice he was growing frustrated with her. I couldn't blame him, there was something about her I didn't like.

"Unless this isn't his will," Anna says simply.

I walk up and stand next to Castiel. I was tired of being in the background. "Then where do the orders come from?" he says.

"I don't know." She says with a shrug. "One of our superiors, maybe, but not him. The father you love. You think he wants this? You think he'd ask this of you? You think this is righteous?" I look up at Castiel to gauge his reaction. Instead of looking at Anna, he looks down at the ground. "What you're feeling? It's called doubt."

As the conversation between the two angels go on, the screams from inside the room where Dean is grows louder and more pained. As Anna talks, she walks up to Castiel and grabs his hand, holding it gently. "These orders are wrong and you know it. But you can do the right thing. You're afraid, Cas. I was too. But together, we can still—" she says.

"Together?" Castiel says, cutting her off and yanking his hand away. "I am nothing like you. You fell. Go."

"Cas…" Anna says. A pained look crosses her face as Castiel's grows harder.

"Go." He says with more force. Without saying anything, Anna gives Castiel one last look, and then gives me one last look before vanishing.

"Fell?" I ask Castiel. "How did she fall?"

He lets out a sigh before turning to face me. "It's a long story," he says. "But essentially what she was just trying to convince me to do, is what caused her to fall."

"Oh," I say. Another scream from Alastair fills the room. Once it ceases, I ask Castiel another question. "Cas, let me ask you a question. Do you really know what my 'duty' is?"

He lets out a sigh. "Sort of," he says. "We were just told vague details."

"What?" I say, my eyes going wide. "You mean you've been spouting about me doing my duty here and you don't even know what it is?"

"I'm sorry," Castiel says. "It is said, that the higher powers know what it is."

"Can you tell me what you do know though?" I plead.

He looks at me sadly again. "I'm sorry," he says. "But I can't."

"I know you're sorry Cas," I say. After a couple minutes of silence between us, I hear a noise coming from the room containing Dean and Alastair. At first, I just brush it off as Alastair, but then I realize it sounds different than before. All the blood drains from my face. "Cas…" I say. He turns and looks at me, listening to the noise also. His eyes go wide before he places a hand on my shoulder. A split second after the familiar pulling and tugging sensation, I open my eyes and see we are in the room with Alastair and Dean.

I watch in frozen horror as Alastair punches an already bloody Dean, over and over again. He drops him on the ground with a sickening thud before picking him up again and starting the beating over again.

"You got a lot to learn, boy," Alastair says, momentarily pausing the punches. "So I'll see you back in class bright and early Monday morning."

Suddenly, Castiel appears behind Alastair, holding a knife. Alastair turns around dropping Dean to the ground again. Castiel stabs Alastair in the heart. When he does, yellow light sparks throughout Alastair. "Well, almost," Alastair says, pulling the knife out. "Looks like God is on my side today."

After he tosses the knife to the side, Alastair and Castiel start fighting. Using the distraction, I race over to Dean, immediately going into nurse mode.

"Dean," I whisper, sliding on my knees as I kneel down beside him. I straighten out his neck, laying him on his back before feeling for a pulse in his neck. I finally feel one, but it's faint and fading. "_No, no, no!" _I say. Immediately, I start CPR on him. I tune out the sounds of the angel and demon fighting behind me as I do chest compressions and try and blow life back into the man lying in front of me. "_Come on Dean!" _I say as I'm doing chest compressions.

Suddenly, I feel myself being pulled away from Dean as an unseen hand slams me against the hexacle. I peel my eyes away from Dean as I see Alastair sauntering over to me. I look and see Castiel, pinned against a wall. "Look at you," Alastair says, crouching down in front of me, coming to my eye level. "You think you can save him. Oh, you can. Trust me sweetheart you can. But who says I want to let you."

Usually I'm pretty quick on my feet with comebacks. But with all the anger, passion, fear, and sorrow racing through my veins, I can't think of anything to say back to him. So I do the next best thing, I hawk a lougee right in his face. He flinches slightly as it hits him. In a swift movement, he reaches his hand up and then back-hands me across the face. Hot tears spring to my eyes as he gets up and walks over to Castiel. I watch as Alastair lifts a hand causing Castiel to move away from the wall a little bit before being slammed against it again.

"Well, like roaches, you celestials. Now, I really wish I knew how to kill you," Alastair says to Castiel. I struggle against the invisible force holding me back, desperate to get back to Dean to try and save him. "But all I can do is send you back to heaven."

Alastair starts chanting in Latin. A blue light appears in Castiel's eyes and mouth all while Alastair is chanting. Suddenly Alastair stops chanting causing the light to disappear from Castiel and the invisible force to release me. I see Alastair appearing to be choking, and then is suddenly slammed against the wall. I look over at the door and see Sam walking in, a hand raised.

"Stupid pet tricks," Alastair sneers at Sam.

"Who's murdering the angels?" Sam says, ignoring the demon's remarks. "How are they doing it?"

"You think I'm gonna tell you?" he spits at Sam.

"Yeah, I do." Sam says, a confident look on his face. I watch in shocked awe as Sam twists his hand, causing Alastair's eyes to roll white as he starts choking.

"How are the demons killing angels?" Sam yells again.

"I don't know," Alastair chokes out.

"Right," Sam says sarcastically.

"It's not us. We're not doing it." Alastair says again.

"I don't believe you," Sam yells.

"Lilith is not behind this. She wouldn't kill seven angels," Alastair says, a hint of pleading in his voice. "Oh, she'd kill a hundred, a thousand." Sam stops at Alastair's voice. He relaxes his hand a little. "Oh, go ahead. Send me back, if you can."

"I'm stronger than that now," Sam says, the confidence coming back to his voice. "Now I can kill."

I watch as Sam holds his hand out again, with more force. A blinding white light shoots out from everywhere on Alastair as he screams. I throw my arm over my eyes to shield me from the light. Once I know the light is gone, I open my eyes and see Alastair lying on the ground at Sam's feet obviously dead. Without a second thought, I go back to Dean as Sam and Castiel come over to us.

"He's alive but fading," I say to them, feeling for Dean's heartbeat. "We need to get to a hospital now." I look up at Castiel, expecting him to transport us.

"I can't," he says, knowing what I'm wanting. "He's too injured, it could possibly harm him worse."

"I passed a hospital on my way in," Sam says, pain creeping through his voice. I nod my head as the three of us lift Dean up and carry him out to the Impala. As we race to the hospital, I stay in the back seat with Dean, crouched in the floorboard as I get his vitals, which are fading fast. When we reach the hospital, Sam runs ahead of us to get some nurses. Once they come out, I help them load Dean onto a stretcher and read off his vitals to them.

I try and follow them back, with Sam right behind me, but a nurse stops me. "I'm sorry," she says holding her hands up. "But you're going to have to wait here."

"He's going to be okay, right?" Sam says.

The nurse gives him a look I had given countless other people when I wasn't sure about their loved one's fate. "We will do our best to save him," she says before racing to the back.

A secretary leads us to a waiting room where she says they will come and get us once they are done with Dean. We are the only ones in there. "Where did Cas-" I say, noticing he had disappeared.

Sam cuts me off. "What the hell happened back there Rhi?" he roars at me.

"What?" I say, bewildered at the fact that Sam was yelling at me.

"What happened?" he repeats. "How did this happen to Dean?"

"I don't know!" I shout at him. He recoils a little bit at the volume of my voice. "I don't know Sam! One second we hear Alastair screaming and the next it's Dean! We got in there as soon as we could!"

He lets out a heavy breath as he runs a hand through his hair. "I'm sorry Rhiannon," he says more calmly. "I didn't mean to accuse you of doing anything."

"I'm sorry too Sam," I say sitting down on a broken down looking couch.

"What are you sorry about?" he says sitting down next to me.

"I- I-" I say. I wasn't sure what was coming over me. I felt like I should've been the one to save Dean in that cellar, not the team of nurses and doctors. Suddenly, heaving sobs start rolling through my body. I feel Sam wrap a protective arm around my shoulders as I lean my head onto his chest. "I'm so sorry Sam, I should've been able to save him," I choke out. Unable to speak, I just sob into Sam's chest. I knew in the back of my mind it was irrational for me to be this upset over not being able to help Dean that much. I've had patients die in my arms at the hospital, but Dean was alive. I cry into Sam's chest until I eventually fall asleep. A little while later Sam is shaking me awake.

"Hey, they've got Dean in a room," he says once I'm awake. "Come on."

I stand up as I'm nodding my head. We follow a nurse through various halls until we arrive at a room. She stands outside the door explaining to us what all was wrong with Dean and how long they expected him to stay. I was barely listening to her though. Once she's done talking, we walk into the room and find Dean lying on a bed. I take in the intubation tube stuck down his throat and the multiple IV's dripping medicine into his arm.

"Hey Dean," Sam says softly as he sits down in a seat on Dean's left. I pull up a chair and sit down on Dean's right.

"Hey ya grouch-butt," I say softly. We both sit there for a couple hours, both willing Dean to open his eyes. I look up at one point and see Castiel standing in the doorway. "Cas," I say softly. As I speak, he moves away from the door, down the hallway. As I was saying his name, Sam stands up and follows him down the hallway. I give Dean's hand a tiny squeeze as I stand up and go to the doorway, stopping on the other side to listen to their conversation.

"You and Uriel put him in there—" I hear Sam say.

"No," Cas says over top of him.

"—because you can't keep a simple devil's trap together." Sam finishes.

"I don't know what happened," Castiel says with a sigh. "That trap...it shouldn't have broken. I am sorry."

"This whole thing was pointless. You understand that?" Sam says. "The demons aren't doing the hits. Something else is killing your soldiers."

"Perhaps Alastair was lying," Castiel says.

"No, he wasn't," Sam says, no doubt in his voice. I hear a soft fluttering of wings as I walk back over to my seat.

"So you think angels were doing it?" I say to Sam as he walks back in. I wasn't ashamed of the fact I was listening in.

He nods his head slowly. I let out a sigh as I lean back in my chair, staring at Dean again. After an hour or so of silence, Sam speaks up again. "Hey," he says. I peel my eyes away from Dean and look over at him. "Why did Uriel bring you too?"

I let out an unhumorus chuckle. "I don't know," I say. "They wouldn't tell me and according to Cas they don't really know what I was supposed to do."

"Angels," Sam says, shaking his head.

"Tell me about it," I say with a groan.

We stay with Dean the entire time he's in the hospital. A couple days after we arrived, they took out the tube and he woke up. After he had woken up, Cas came to visit Dean. Sam and I had stepped out to give them privacy and get some coffee. As we were coming back, we heard Dean shouting. We waited until we heard silence and then walked in, to see Dean crying. He wouldn't tell us what they talked about. About three days later they released him, thanks to my continuous goading him to get out of bed and walking around.

Almost immediately after being released from the hospital Dean was ready to go on another hunt. "Dean," I say to him as Sam was pulling into a motel parking lot in Ohio. "You just got out of the hospital two days ago. You need to rest a little!"

"I'll rest when I'm dead," he says. "Again."

I roll my eyes at him as the three of us get out of the car and walk to the office. After Sam gets us a room, we head down to the room and settle in. Once we are settled in, Sam leaves to get us food.

"Hey, shorty," Dean grunts from the bed where he's cleaning a gun. I look up at him from the little table where I was clicking around on my laptop. "Let me ask you a question."

"What's up?" I say, closing the laptop.

"When Alastair was-uh, beating me to a pulp," I flinch at the memory. "Did you come in the room?"

"Yeah," I say standing up and walking over to him. "I did. Once Castiel got Alastair away from you, I performed CPR on you."

"You did?" he says, arching an eyebrow at me. "So you gave me the kiss of life, huh?"

"Oh shut up," I say nudging his arm. He lets out a low chuckle in a rare moment of lightness. "I didn't have any other choice. I couldn't let your grouch-butt die."

"Well thank you," he says. I look up at him and give him a small smile. We lock eyes for a little too long, causing me to look away, butterflies in my stomach. "So, tell me this…"

"What?" I squeak out.

"Were my lips as soft as you'd always dreamed they'd be?" he says. I roll my eyes at him as I stand up and give him a smack up the back of the head while he laughs loudly.

A few minutes later, Sam comes back with the food. After we've all ate and I've smacked Dean on the back of the head a couple more times, we were all ready for bed. "I call one of the beds," I say as I walk out of the bathroom. Sam and Dean both look up at me, Dean's mouth a little agape. "What?" I say, looking at myself. My hair was still wet from the shower and I just had on a pair of sweats and a plain grey shirt.

"Nothing," Sam says. With Sam's words, Dean sobers up and refocuses on cleaning his gun.

"Good," I say. "So no objections to me taking a bed?"

"None at all," Dean says. "And seeing as how I just got out of the hospital, I get the other bed."

"Perfect," Sam murmurs, walking over to the couch. Minutes later, we are all in bed, the lights off. I drift off to an easy sleep with my boys on the bed and couch next to me, guns under their pillows.

_Dean's Point of View_

I instinctively reach over and shut off my alarm a couple seconds after it started beeping, alerting me to wake up me. I slowly open my eyes and immediately spot her hand on the pillow next to my head, the large diamond resting on her fourth finger.

"Time to wake up," I say, pulling the covers back from over her head. Rhiannon looks at me and gives me a sleepy smile.

"Mornin Mr. Smith," she says leaning up a little bit.

I meet her halfway to plant a kiss on her lips. "Morning Mrs. Smith."


	9. Chapter 9

_Rhiannon's Point of View_

I stand at the kitchen island in my bath robe, pouring me and Dean's cup of coffee. Looking up, I see him walking out of the bedroom, dressed in his blue striped shirt and red tie, my favorite outfit. "Looking good shug," I tell him as he walks up to me.

I let out a content sigh as he places a hand on my hip and then places a kiss on my temple. "Not as good as you look," he says.

"Well thank ya," I say. "Excited about the new position today?"

He nods his head as he reaches around me to grab his cup of coffee. "Really excited," he says, a proud grin crossing his face. "So, what do you have planned for today?"

"Oh, just the usual," I say shrugging my shoulders. I watch him as he walks around the island to pick up the newspaper. "Yoga this morning, lunch with Jenn, and then I have to stop by the store."

"What's going on there?" he asks me.

"Apparently the manager has hired a new sales association," I tell him. "And I guess as the owner of the shop, I should meet them, right?"

"Probably a smart move," he says with a slight nod. "Well, I need to get going."

"Alright," I say walking around the island. I walk up to him and wind my arms around his waist as he pulls me in close to him. "Have a great day."

"Hmm, it'll only be a good day without you," he says. I smile a little bit as he tilts my chin back slightly to plant a deep and linger kiss on my lips.

He gives me a wink as he grabs his briefcase and starts to head for the door. "Love you," I call after him. Before he shuts the door, he turns back around and looks at me deeply. "I love you too," he tells me. After he shuts the door, I let out another sigh before turning to the bedroom to go get dressed for the day.

That night, Dean comes home from work fairly late. "I'm sorry," he says, planting a kiss on my cheek. "Part of the new job."

"It's okay," I say, giving him a sleepy smile.

"But hey," he says sitting down on the couch next to me. "I got a recipe for this new power cleanse I think we should try."

I give him a sly smile as I reach over and start loosening his tie. "Sounds fantastic," I say, undoing the top button of his shirt. "Why don't you tell me about it over breakfast?"

He gives me a knowing smile as he grabs me around the waist, lowering me down on the couch as he starts kissing my neck.

The next morning was our same routine, we had our coffee, Dean read the paper, and then left for work. That night though, when he got home from work, I could tell that he was upset. "Dean," I say getting up from the couch. "What's wrong?"

"Nothing," he says shaking his head, setting his briefcase on the kitchen island. I walk up to him, concern all over my face. "I just- this guy got a little weird with me in the elevator today."

"A guy…got weird with you in the elevator?" I say. I place a hand over my mouth to try and keep from laughing out loud. Dean gives me a frustrated look. "I'm sorry babe," I say, smoothing out a wrinkle in his shirt. "You just had some poor word choosing there. Okay, tell me all about the weird guy," I say, pulling him over to the couch.

"Well, this wasn't the first time I encountered him. He rode the elevator with me yesterday too and told me I looked familiar," he says.

"Did he look familiar to you?" I ask him.

"No," he says shaking his head. "I've never seen him in my life. He works down in tech support and I don't have much interaction with them. Anyways, and then today he got on the elevator with me again and starts asking me all these weird questions."

"About what?" I say.

"I don't know," he says, rubbing the back of his neck. I motion for him to turn his back towards me so I can rub on his shoulders. Once I start rubbing, he continues. "He was asking me about demons and ghosts and vampires."

"What?" I say, pausing for a moment.

"Yeah," Dean says. "He said he was having dreams about them lately. I told him he over-shares too much."

"Oh hun you shouldn't have said that," I say.

"Why not?"

"Cause," I say, resting my hands on his broad shoulders. "What if he's like, special needs or something? A lot of people like that do that kind of thing and being rude to them isn't good for their social skills."

"Nah," he says shaking his head. "I don't think he's special needs."

"Well, regardless," I say. "Next time he says something to you about it, ask him why he's telling you about it."

"That's a good idea," Dean says nodding his head. He turns around and faces me taking my little hands into his giant, strong ones. "I'm so glad I have you to talk to."

"Well that's what I'm here for right," I say, giving him a smile. "For better or worse, sickness or health, normal day at the office or creepy guy in an elevator."

Dean lets out a loud, jubilant laugh as he suddenly pulls me over his shoulder and then carries me into the bedroom.

_The next night_

"Dean, I'm really getting worried about you now," I say into the phone. "Just call me back and let me know you're okay. I love you." I end the voicemail before I toss the phone onto the couch. I was really worried about Dean after seeing on the news about two dead bodies being found at his work today. The first time I called him, he just briefly told me he was okay and then hung up. Now, he wasn't answering his phone at all.

I take another swig of my wine before reaching down to pick up my phone. Before I can dial Dean's number again, the front door opens. I race to the hallway to see Dean and a taller man walking through the front door. I let out a loud sigh as I run up to Dean and throw my arms around his neck.

"Hey baby," he says, letting out a sigh into my neck. "I'm sorry I'm so late."

"I was so worried about you," I say, letting go of him. "I left you a million messages. I had no clue if you were okay. Why are you in a different shirt? The news said that two men were found dead at your-" I pause my tirade as I notice the other man standing awkwardly next to us. "I'm sorry," I say looking at him. "Who's this?"

"Remember that guy I was telling you about last night?" Dean says, giving me a look. "Well, this is Sam Wesson. Sam, this is my wife, Rhiannon."

"Oh," I say looking over at him. "It's nice to meet you."

"You too Mrs. Smith," he says shaking my hand.

"Rhi, why don't you get us all something to drink?" Dean says. "Me and Sam have a lot to talk about."

"Okay," I say backing up to the kitchen. "But you're going to tell me what happened today at the office."

"Yes ma'am," Dean says, giving me a little smile. A little while later, after Sam and Dean had told me everything that happened in the office and their theory on it I stare at them blankly. "So…that's what happened," Dean says.

I look down at my empty wine glass and refill if before saying anything. "You know that sounds super crazy," I say, lifting the glass up to my lips.

"Yeah," Sam says. "I could use a beer."

"Oh, sorry, man. We're on the Cleanse," Dean says. "She got rid of all the carbs in the house."

Sam gets a slightly frustrated look on his face. "Not totally," I say walking over to the fridge. I open it up and reach in the very back and pull out a beer and toss it to Sam. "I kept an emergency stash." Sam tells me thanks as Dean shakes his head in amused frustration.

"Hey. How the hell did you know that ghosts are scared of wrenches?" Sam asks Dean.

"Crazy, right? And nice job kicking that door too," Dean says to Sam. "That was very Jet Li. What are you, like a black belt or something?"

"No. I have no clue how I did that," Sam says taking a swig of beer. "It's like...we've done this before."

"What do you mean, before?" I say.

"I—I just can't shake this feeling like I—like I don't belong here. You know?" Sam says shaking his head. "Like I should do something more than sit in a cubicle."

"I think most people who work in a cubicle feel that same way," Dean says. I reach up and smack him up the back of the head and give him a disapproving look.

"No. Well, look, it's more than that. Like, I don't like my job. I don't like this town. I don't like my clothes. I don't like my own last name," Sam says, sitting the beer down. "I don't know how else to explain it, except that...it feels like I should be doing something else. There's just something in my blood. Like I was destined for something different. What about you? You ever feel that way? "

I can't help but understand what Sam was talking about. Being with Dean felt natural and right every day, but once Sam walked through the door I had this uneasy feeling.

"I don't believe in destiny," Dean says. "I do believe in dealing with what's right in front of us, though."

"All right, so, what do we do now?" Sam says.

"We do what I do best, Sammy," Dean says, walking over to a laptop. "Research."

"Okay," Sam says. I motion for him to follow me so I can set him up at a laptop. Before we get to the table, Sam stops and turns to look at Dean. "Did you just call me Sammy?"

"Did I?" Dean says, a confused look crossing his face. He looks at me and I just shrug my shoulders.

"I think you did," Sam says, letting out a little chuckle. "Yeah. Don't."

Dean gives him an apologetic look. "Sorry." I give Dean a smile as I walk over to the desk where Dean was looking at a laptop and sit down in a chair next to him to look at it with him. Occasionally, I glance over at Sam, thinking how he does look familiar.

Finally, as I was starting to doze off, Dean finds something. "Oh, jackpot," he says, smacking the desk right next to my head. I give him an angry look as he gives me a kiss on the temple.

"What you got?" Sam calls from across the room.

"I just found the best site ever. Real, actual ghost hunters," Dean says. I scoot closer to Dean as Sam walks up and stands on the other side of him. "These guys are genius. Check it out."

"Instructional videos," Sam says, point to a spot on the screen. Dean pulls up a video where two nerdy looking guys appear wearing white lab coats. The top of the screen reads: _Ghostfacers._

"We know why you're watching," one of the guys says.

"You've got a problem." The other says.

"A ghost problem."

"A ghost-related problem. A ghost—it's like a ghost-adjacent pr—it's like a problem that's—and the ghost is—"

"Whatever. You've come to the right place. The only decent place, really, because the Ghostfacers know how to solve it."

"Period."

"Watch and learn."

"See, the first step in any supernatural fight:"

"Figure out what you're up against." They say at the same time. Sam brings his laptop over where he has an article pulled up about Sandover's, Dean's company, founder.

"That's him," Dean says, pointing at a picture of a very stern looking man. "That's the ghost."

"P. T. Sandover. Died 1916," Sam reads out loud. "Devoted his life to his work. No wife, no kids."

I lean forward and read a part of the article aloud. "Office 1444 was considered to be the center of the company's operations, with Sandover himself overseeing all details of any construction project the company undertook. Considered to be a difficult person to work for, P.T. Sandover had an exceptionally high standard of quality, often marching onto construction sites and halting all work until he personally inspected each aspect of the structure. Aiming for perfection is perhaps why the Sandover legacy is so impressive, dominating the industry with the scale and scope of its projects."

"Used to say he was the company, and his very blood pumped through the building," Sam says.

"Wow, okay. So slight workaholic," Dean says. "Maybe he's still here, you know, watching over the company, even killing for it."

"Plus, turns out this isn't the first time people started killing themselves in the building," Sam says, pointing at the screen again. "1929."

"Yeah, but lots of guys jumped off lots of high rises that year," Dean says, like it's no big deal.

"How many companies had seventeen suicides?" Sam says, raising an eyebrow at Dean.

"Phew. Okay, so P. T. Sandover, protector of the company," Dean says. "His ghost wakes up and becomes active during times of grave economic distress."

"Well, I mean, the worst time we've seen since the Great Depression—" Sam says.

"Is now. Yeah, now sucks," Dean says, cutting Sam off. "My portfolio's in the sewer. I don't even wanna talk about it." I give Dean a sympathetic look as I rub his neck a little. He had told me about how the company was having a hard time.

"So Sandover's helping the bottom line—" Sam says.

"By zapping some model employees," Dean says, finishing Sam's thought. I give them both a confused look, it was weird how they were finishing each other's thoughts like that.

"Yeah. I mean, Ian and Paul," Sam says. "It was like he turned them into different people."

"Perfect worker bees, exactly," Dean says. "So devoted to the company that they would commit hara-kiri if they failed it."

"One more interesting fact," Sam says clicking around on his laptop. "The building wasn't always that high. Used to be fourteen floors. And the room where the ghost attacked, fourteen forty-four? Once upon a time, that was the old man's office."

Dean gives a frustrated look as he turns back on the Ghostfacer's video.

"Once you've got that thing in your sights—" the one with glasses says.

"You kill it," they say at the same time.

"Using special ghost-hunting weapons."

"First, salt. It's like acid to ghosts."

"Burny acid."

"Not LSD."

"No. It's a bad trip for ghosts. Next up, iron." I let out a snort of laughter at these guys.

"That's why the wrench worked," Sam says to Dean.

"Pure power in your hand." One of the Ghostfacers says.

"Dissipates ghosts instantly."

"Next little trick. We learned this from those useless douchebags—"

"That we hate."

"The Winchesters."

"Gun."

"Shotgun shell. Pack it up with fresh rock salt."

"Very effective."

"Very effective."

"Winchesters still suck ass, though."

"Affirmative. Suckage major."

"I wonder what those Winchester guys did to them," I say as Dean gets up from the desk. I watch as he disappears into the bedroom and then returns a minute later, setting one of my duffel bags on the dining room table. He walks over to the fire place and grabs two pokers. He looks up at me and I instantly know what he wants me to do. A couple minutes later, I walk up to him with two things of salt in my hand. He gives me a thankful smile as I stuff them in the duffel bag.

"Where do we even get a gun?" Dean says.

"Gun store?" Sam says, clearly not sure.

"Isn't there like some kind of waiting period or something?" I say.

"I think so." Sam says.

"Well, how in the hell—" Dean starts to say.

"I don't know," Sam says, shrugging his shoulders. "Seems pretty impossible, honestly."

"Right," Dean says, nodding his head.

"Let's see what else the Ghostfacers have to say," I say, motioning to the laptop.

We all gather around the laptop as Dean hits play on the video again. "The aforementioned super-annoying Winchester douchenozzles also taught us this one other thing. You have to burn the remains." One of the guys say.

"Okay, this next part gets a little gross. Sometimes you might have to dig up the body. Sorry."

"Oh you've got to be kidding me," I say, scrunching up my nose.

"It's illegal in some states." One of the Ghostfacers say.

"All states."

"Possibly all states.

"Sandover was cremated," Sam says.

"What?" Dean says, frustrated. "So what do we do now?"

"Now, if the deceased has been cremated—" the video says.

"Don't panic."

"Don't panic."

"Just gotta look for some other remains."

"A hair in a locket, maybe. Fingernails. Baby teeth."

"Milk teeth."

"Genetic material. You know what we're talking about."

"Go find it."

"Fight well, young lions."

"Godspeed."

The screen goes black as the video ends. "So what now?" I ask.

"We'll have to go to the office," Sam says.

"Yeah," Dean says nodding his head. "Maybe Sandover left something behind."

"No," I say shaking my head. "Y'all are not going there, not tonight."

"Rhi," Dean says. "We can't let anyone else die. It's now or never."

I look deeply into Dean's eyes as I make up my mind. "Well, then, I'm going with you."

"I don't think that's such a good idea," Sam says shaking his head.

"I'm not gonna let my husband take on some homicidal ghost by himself with some guy he barely knows," I say to Sam. I turn and look back at Dean. "I'm going with you." I say stubbornly.

He looks down at my hands before taking them into his. He turns them over, looking at my wedding band. He tilts his head back up and looks at me with a smirk. "Till death do us part, right?" he says.

I let out a little chuckle as I lean forward and give him a kiss. "Let's not talk about death before we go hunt a ghost, okay?" I say. He gives me a smile before releasing all but one of my hands. I follow him and Sam to the front door as we head out to do possibly the craziest thing of my life.


	10. Chapter 10

The three of us crawl out of Dean's Prius that he parked in front of Sandover. I follow the two men into the building and through the lobby.

"Set your cell phone to walkie-talkie in case we get separated," Dean says. The three of us pull out our phones and switch them.

"How are we gonna find some ancient speck of DNA in a skyscraper?" I ask.

"Well, that creepy storeroom used to be Sandover's office, right?" Dean says. Sam nods his head as we approach the elevators.

"So that means we're going in the creepy store room?" I say, hoping I'm wrong.

Dean looks down at me and gives me a smirk as he presses 14 on the elevator panel. "Bingo," he says. I had to admit, I was scared of what we were supposedly getting ready to face. But, at the same time, I felt totally safe, even with Sam who I barely knew. I follow them down the hall once we reach the fourteenth floor. As we're walking down the hallway, Dean hangs back a little from Sam and walks next to me. "You okay shorty?" he says.

I look up at him and raise an eyebrow at him. "Shorty?" I say. "You haven't me that since…"

"Yeah," Dean says, looking sort of confused. "I don't know where that came from. Anyways, you okay?"

I nod my head slightly. "Just a little nervous," I say.

"You'll be okay, we- uh, I won't let anything get you," he says, leisurely draping an arm over my shoulder. He leans down to whisper in my ear. "Just stick next to me, okay?" I look up at him and give him a kiss on the cheek as we reach the storage room.

Once we enter the room, we immediately start looking through files and the desk that was located towards the back. I follow Dean behind some shelves where we start going through some more files. Suddenly, I hear the door to the office open and someone yell.

"What the hell are you doing here?" Before I can even react, Dean clamps a hand down over my mouth and pulls me back further into the shelves. We stand in between the furthest bookshelves in the office and listen to Sam dealing with the man.

"Nothing. I just—" Sam stammers.

"Come with me," the man says.

Once we hear the door click behind them, Dean takes his hand off my mouth and releases me. "You okay?" he asks.

"I'm fine," I say. "Should we go after him?"

"Nah," Dean says looking towards the door. "I'm sure that was a security guard. He'll be fine."

I let out a sigh. "Alright, well, let's keep looking," I say.

We continue looking through the office. Finally, Dean finds something. "Hey, come look at this," he says. I walk over to the desk where Dean is holding a small piece of paper.

"What's that," I say walking up next to him.

"It's a picture of the Sandover Bridge," he says, holding it out for me to see.

"So, what about it?" I say, not seeing the significance.

Dean looks down at me and gives me a wistful smile. "I know where to find the old man's DNA," he says. He pulls out his phone and calls Sam. "Hey. You okay?" he says into the phone.

After a couple seconds of silence, Sam's voice comes over the phone, "Call you back." We wait about five minutes until we finally hear Sam's voice again. "Dean, you guys there?"

"Yeah, listen, I think I got it," Deans says. He nods his head towards the door, motioning for me to follow him. "Meet me on twenty-two."

"Okay, yeah," Sam says. "Just, uh, take the stairs."

I look up at Dean who shrugs his shoulders. "Come on," I say. "We got a lot of stairs to climb."

Once we reach the lobby of the twenty-second floor, Dean leads me over to a history display. I start looking at the different artifacts on display when Dean grabs my hand. "Hey," he says, tugging my hand so that I'm facing him. "Look, if things start getting hairy, I want to you bolt."

"Dean-" I say, starting to protest.

"No, listen to me," he says, a serious tone to his voice. "If I tell you to bolt, you head for the apartment."

"I'm not going to leave you behind," I say stubbornly.

"And I'm not going to let anything happen to you," he says, his voice rising in concerned frustration. "I tell you to bolt, you run. Understand?"

Instead of answering him, I go up on my toes and kiss him. About the time that I break the kiss, Sam walks out of the stairwell. I look over to him and see him covered in blood. "Oh my gosh Sam!" I squeal. "Are you okay?"

"Yeah," he says walking up to us. "I'm fine."

"That's a lot of blood," Dean says.

"Yeah, I know," Sam says, rolling his eyes at Dean once he had turned around.

"Right," Dean says, turning to face the wall. "So, uh, in there." He points to a glass case containing a pair of gloves.

"P. T. Sandover's gloves," Sam says, reading the caption underneath them.

"Yeah, how much you wanna bet there's a little smidge of DNA in there?" Dean says. "You know, like a fingernail clipping or a hair or two? Something."

"So you ready?" Sam says, taking a deep breath.

"I have no idea," Dean says.

"Oh, that makes me feel safe," I say sarcastically. Dean looks down at me and gives me an apologetic grin. He reaches into the duffel bag and grabs the fire pokers, handing one to Sam and handing me the salt.

"Go for it," Sam says, motioning to the display case.

"Right," Dean says. He takes a deep breath before rearing the fire poker back and then swinging it forward in a swift movement, smashing the glass. Out of the corner of my eye, I see Sam's breath. Before any of us can react, an old man that I guess is Sandover appears behind Dean. Without even moving, he flings Dean across the lobby against a wall. Then he flings Sam. Before can even turn to look at me, I fling some salt through him, causing him to disappear. Once he's gone, Dean and Sam get up.

"Are you two okay?" I ask them.

"Yeah," Dean says, starting to walk towards me. "We're fine. Nice move by the way."

As I'm about to spout off some clever remark, Dean yells my name, pointing behind me. As I turn around, I catch a glimpse of the ghost behind me before he throws me across the room against a wall.

Once I land with a thud, I look up and see Dean swinging a fire poker through Sandover, causing him to disappear.

"Nice catch," Sam says, having tossed Dean his fire poker.

"Right?" Dean says, a cocky grin crossing his face. He then runs over to me. "You okay?" he asks. I nod my head as I sit up and lean against the wall. "Get out of here Rhi, now."

Before I can protest, I see Sandover appear in the middle of the lobby. I point to him and tell Dean, who along with Sam, simultaneously swing their fire pokers through him, causing him to disappear once again.

Suddenly, Sandover appears behind Dean, who turns to swing at him, but is thrown across the room instead. Then, he turns to Sam and throws him into the opposite wall. Once he sees Sam land, he turns towards Dean and holds his hand out, sparks shooting out of it. I glance over and see the gloves lying on the floor and immediately scramble over to them. I dig a lighter out of the duffel bag and then set the gloves on fire. I turn to look at Sandover and see him burn into thin air before he can touch Dean.

With a sigh, I drop the gloves on the shattered glass of the display case. The three of us lay against the walls, panting from the adrenaline. Finally, Dean gets up and walks over to me, holding a hand out to help me up. Once I'm standing, Sam walks over to us.

"That was amazing," he says, an ecstatic smile coming over his face.

"Right?" Dean says, an ecstatic smile crossing his face too. "Right?"

"Yeah, you're welcome for burning up the gloves," I say, still panting. I bend my back to rest my hands on my knees to try and catch my breath.

I feel Dean's reassuring hand rub my back. "Thank you baby," he says. I stand up straight and give him a smile. "Come on," he says looking at both of us. "I've got a first-aid kit in my office."

We follow him throw the lobby to his office. I had never seen his office, but it was massive. I follow him over to his desk where he gets into a drawer towards the bottom. As he pulls the first-aid kit out, I look at the lone picture on his desk of me and him on our wedding day. I pick it up and look at it. I had every memory and detail of the day ingrained into my brain, but something about the picture seemed off. Once Dean has the first-aid kit out I take it from his hands. I'm not sure how, but I immediately know how to use everything in the kit and start to clean a cut on Dean's forehead.

"Man, I gotta tell you," Dean says to Sam. "I've never had so much fun in my life."

"Me neither." Sam says.

"Was a hell of a workout too, wasn't it?" Dean says. I roll my eyes at him, he was always concerned about his physique.

"We should keep doing this," Sam says.

"I know," Dean says. I put a bandage on the cut and then walk over to Sam to bandage up his arm.

"I mean it. There gotta be other ghosts out there," Sam says, visibly getting excited at the idea. "We could help a lot of people."

"Right, we'd be like the Ghostfacers," Dean says, a sarcastic tone to his voice.

"No, really," Sam says. "I mean, for real."

Once I finish with Sam, I walk over to the desk and sit down in one of the chair to clean up a cut on my own arm.

"What?" I say. I look up and see Dean leaning against the desk next to me. "Like, quit your jobs and hit the road?"

"Exactly," Sam says.

"How would we live?" Dean says.

"Uh..." Sam says. He clearly wasn't thinking of that.

"You gotta be kidding me. How would we get by?" Dean says. I wasn't sure why, but I could tell Dean was getting upset. I close up the first-aid kit and stand up next to him. "With stolen credit cards? Huh? Eating diner food drenched in saturated fats? Sharing a crap motel room every night?"

"That's all just details," Sam says, waving him off.

"Details are everything," Dean says. "You don't wanna go fighting ghosts without any health insurance." I had to agree with him a little on that.

"All right," Sam says, walking a couple steps closer to us. "Um. Confession."

"What?" Dean says.

"Remember those dreams I told you about with the ghosts?"

A skeptical look crosses Dean's face. "Yeah?"

"I was fighting them," Sam says, looking nervous at what Dean might say.

"Okay…" Dean says.

"With you. We were these, like, hunters, and we were friends. More like brothers, really," Sam says. I look up at Dean and see his face is expressionless. "And you," he says pointing at me. "You were like this important person we had to protect at all costs," he says. I scoot a little closer to Dean who simultaneously reaches for my hand. "I mean, what if that's who we really are? I mean, you saw us back there, working together. The ghost was scrambling people's brains. What if it scrambled ours?"

"That's insane," Dean says.

"Is it? Think about it for just one second," Sam says. "What if we think this is our life, but it's not?"

"Hey, man, the ghost is dead and we're still standing," Dean says. "I mean, I'm sorry, but—"

"Look, all I know is this isn't who we're supposed to be," Sam says simply.

"No," Dean says, taking a couple steps toward Sam. "I'm Dean Smith, okay? Director of Sales and Marketing. I went to Stanford. My father's name is Bob, my mother's name is Ellen, and my sister's name is Jo. I'm married to Rhiannon and we have an amazing life together."

"When was the last time you talked to them? To any of them?" Sam says, referring to Dean's family. Now that Sam mentioned it, I couldn't remember ever talking to them. "And what about Rhiannon? Do you even remember your wedding day?"

Now Sam had crossed a line. "Okay, you're upset," I say, stepping up next to Dean. "You're upset, you're confused—"

"Yeah, 'cause I only moved here, 'cause I just broke up with my fiancée, Madison," Sam says. "But I called her number and I got a damn animal hospital."

"Okay. What are you saying?" Dean says. "Are you trying to say that my family isn't real? Huh? That- that my marriage is a sham? That we've been injected with fake memories? Come on."

"All I know is, I got this feeling in my gut," Sam says. "And I know—I know that deep down, you gotta be feeling it too. We're supposed to be something else. You're not just some corporate douchebag. This isn't you. I know you."

I look between the two men. Even though I know they hardly knew each other, I couldn't help but feel how wrong it felt for them to fight like this.

"Know me?" Dean says. He reaches over and laces his fingers through mine again, as if afraid I might disappear. "You don't know me, pal. You should go."

Sam gives Dean one last look before looking at me, almost pleading with me to agree with him. Instead, I just hold Dean's hand tighter and take another step towards him. Sam gives me a sad look before walking out of the office. Once the door shuts with a deafening slam, Dean lets out a breath he had been holding.

I wasn't sure what to say, so I just take my free hand and start rubbing Dean's arm. In the deepest, darkest part of my mind, I felt like I agreed with Sam. "Dean-" I start to say.

I'm cut off though by Dean pushing me against the nearest wall and him smashing his lips against mine. He kissed me deep and hard, an undetectable undercurrent of fear laced in with the passion. Once he breaks the kiss, he rests his forehead against mine, breathing deeply. "Come on," he says, his voice husky. "Let's go home." I'm still a little breathless from the kiss so I just nod my head. Dean wraps an arm around my shoulders tightly as we walk from his office.

That night, long after Dean was deep asleep, I sit up in bed, unable to sleep myself. I look over at Dean, sound asleep on my left. He had an arm stretched out towards me, which had started out being wrapped around me tightly until he fell asleep. With a sigh, I get up out of bed and walk over to the window, looking out at the city below. _Had Sam been right? Was this really our life? I have the memories to prove it was. I'm totally in love with Dean. We have a great life together._ Despite all those positive thoughts running through my mind, I couldn't help but wonder if the tall stranger was right. "Hey," I hear behind me. I turn around and see Dean sitting up in the bed, looking at me. "You okay?"

"Yeah," I say nodding my head. "Just couldn't sleep." I give him my most reassuring smile as he pats the bed next to him. I walk over to the bed and climb in beside him. Once I'm in the bed, Dean wraps an arm around my waist and pulls me close to him. I wrap an arm around him as I lay my head on his chest, letting the sound of his heartbeat lull me to sleep.

_Dean's Point of View_

I hear a knock on my office door. Lifting my head up, I see my boss, Mr. Adler stick his head in. "Got a minute?" he asks.

"Sure, of course," I tell him.

I watch him as he walks in and shuts the door behind him. "How are you feeling, Dean?" he asks me.

"Uh, great," I say. It was a lie though; I had laid wide awake most of the night thinking about what Sam had said.

"You look a little tired," he says. "Been working hard, I gather."

"Yeah," I say, nodding my head.

"Ah, don't be modest," he says, sitting down in a chair in front of my desk. "I hear everything. And I'm pleased with what I'm hearing. That's why it's important to me that you're happy." I watch as he grabs a pen out of his inner pocket and then grabs a piece of paper off my desk. He writes something down on the paper and then slides it over to me. "How's that for a bonus?"

I look at the paper and the obscene amount of money written on it. "That's very generous," I say.

"Purely selfish," Mr. Adler says with a small laugh. "Wanna make sure you're not going anywhere."

"Wow. Are you sure?" I say, still looking at the paper.

"Positive. You are Sandover material, son," he says. "Real go-getter. Carving your own way."

"Well, thanks. I try." I tell him.

"I see big things in your future. Maybe even senior VP, Eastern Great Lakes Division," he says. "Don't get me wrong, you'll have to work for it. Seven days a week, lunch at your desk, but in eight to ten short years, that could be you."

I take the earpiece out of my ear and set it down on my desk. "Uh, well, thank you. Thank you, sir. It's, um...but..." I say. The first thought that comes to my mind is Sam and Rhiannon and what we had done last night. I slide the paper back to Mr. Adler. "I am giving my notice."

"This is a joke," he says, looking at me deadpan. "You're kidding me, right?"

"No. I've—I recently—uh, very recently realized that I have some other work I have to do," I say. I knew I couldn't proper explain to him what I wanted to do without sounding totally crazy. "It's, uh, very important to me."

"Other work?" he says. "Another company?"

"No, I—it's hard to explain," I say, folding my hands on my desk. "Um. It's just that this—this is—it's just—it's not who I'm supposed to be." Suddenly, Mr. Adler grins unexpectedly. "What?"

"Dean, Dean, Dean," he says, still smiling. "Finally."

I watch him as he stands up and reaches across the desk. He presses two fingers to my forehead, causing everything to come rushing back to me. I look around the office, not believing this all had really happened.

"What the hell? Why am I wearing a tie?" I say looking down at my shirt. "My God, am I hungry."

Mr. Adler laughs. "Welcome back."

I stand up and start pacing a little. "Wait. Did I—did I just get touched by—" I say, running the possibilities through my mind and finally settling on one. "You're an angel, aren't you?"

"I'm Zachariah," he says, holding his hands in the air, palms towards the ceiling.

"Oh, great," I say. "That's all I need is another one of you guys."

"I'm hardly another one, Dean. I'm Castiel's superior," Zachariah says. "Believe me, I had no interest in popping down here into one of these smelly things." He waves his hands over his body. "But after the unfortunate situation with Uriel, I felt it necessary to pay a visit. Get my ducks in a row."

"I am not one of your ducks," I say definitely. I was tired of these angels messing with me.

"Starting with your attitude," he says.

"Oh, so, what?" I say. "This was all some sort of a lesson? Is that what you're telling me? Wow. Very creative."

"You should see my decoupage," he says, a little grin crossing his face.

"Gross. No thank you," I say, turning away from him for a moment. When I turn back towards him, I catch a glance of the picture of me and Rhiannon on my desk. "So, what? I'm just hallucinating all this? Is that it?"

"Not at all," he says. "Real place, real haunting. Just plunked you in the middle without the benefit of your memories."

"Just to shake things up? Hm?" I say, starting to get angry. "So you guys can have fun watching us run around like ass clowns in monkey suits?"

"To prove to you that the path you're on is truly in your blood. You're a hunter," Zachariah says, taking a couple steps towards me. "Not because your dad made you, not because God called you back from hell, but because it is what you are. And you love it. You'll find your way to it in the dark every single time and you're miserable without it. Dean, let's be real here. You're good at this. You'll be successful. You will stop it."

"Stop what? The apocalypse, huh? Lucifer? What?" I say. "Be specific, man."

"You'll do everything you're destined to do. All of it. But I know, I know," he says. "You're not strong enough. You're scared. You got daddy issues. You can't do it. Right?"

"Angel or not, I will stab you in your face," I tell him.

"All I'm saying is it's how you look at it," he says, holding his hands up in innocence. "Most folks live and die without moving anything more than the dirt it takes to bury them. You get to change things." I turn away from him and look out the window as he continues. "Save people, maybe even the world. All the while you drive a classic car and fornicate with women. This isn't a curse. It's a gift. So for God's sakes, Dean, quit whining about it. Look around. There are plenty of fates worse than yours. So are you with me? You wanna go steam yourself another latte? Or are you ready to stand up and be who you really are?"

Before I can answer, I hear a fluttering of wings. Turning around I see he's disappeared. I grab the phone off my desk and call Sam. "Sammy?" I say when he picks up after one ring.

"Dean," he says with a sigh. "You okay?"

"Yeah, I'm good," I say starting to head out of the office. I loosen up my tie and rip it off, throwing it behind a plant. "Hey, do me a favor, head over to the apartment and wait there with shorty," I tell him.

"Okay, I see you in a few," he says before clicking the phone shut.

Almost immediately after hanging up with Sam, my phone rings, alerting that Rhiannon was calling. "Dean," she says after I answer. "What just happened?"

"You okay?" I ask, not answering her question. She tells me she is. "Okay, good, stay there at the apartment. Sam is on his way over, I'll explain everything once I get there."

"Okay," she says. "I'll see you when you get here. Lo-" she suddenly stops.

I knew what she was getting ready to say out of habit of how we had spent the last three weeks, and it made my heart twinge. "Yeah," I say. "See you in a bit." Before either of us could say anything, I end the call and head down the elevator.

**A/N: THANK YOU ALL SO MUCH FOR THE REVIEWS! :D Especially to Dalonega Noquisi who never falls to review every single dagum chapter, you're awesome :) Everyone else feel free to review too and I hope you're all enjoying the story!**


	11. Chapter 11

_Rhiannon's Point of View_

The ride back from Ohio was silent. A heavy, awkward tension hung in the air between me and Dean. Sam tried a few times to engage us in conversation, but it was no use. I hadn't even asked where we were heading to next, but I breathed a heavy sigh of relief when we pulled up to Bobby's. Dean barely had the car in park before I was out of the car and bolting into the house, up to the room I had claimed as my own. I didn't come out for hours and when I did I headed straight for the kitchen. I blew through the room where Bobby, Sam, and Dean were sitting, doing research no doubt. In the kitchen, I got into the cabinet a pulled out a bottle of Bobby's 'hunter's helper'. Before I got outside, I grabbed Bobby's .22 that he kept next to the door and then stormed outside, taking a burning swig of the whiskey.

I set myself up a target in the field behind Bobby's and starting firing at it. I was a little rusty from the last time I had shot, but I was hitting the target at least. "I didn't know you could shoot," I hear behind me.

Pointing the rifle at the ground, I turn around and see Sam standing there. "Yeah, growin up in the south it was almost a requirement," I say turning back around, firing off another round.

"Do you think you should be drinking while…" I spin around and give him a hard look. "Never mind."

"What do you want Sam," I ask him, firing another round.

"Well, you were silent the whole ride here, you hole yourself up upstairs for hours and then come barreling downstairs grabbing whiskey and a shotgun before heading outside," he says, leaning against the barrel I was keeping the whiskey on. "You obviously need to talk."

"Nope," I say reloading the gun. I hoist it up and press the butt of the gun to my shoulder. "Right now I just need to shoot stuff and get drunk."

"Rhi," Sam says, grabbing the gun away from me. I start to protest before he cuts me off. "Look, I don't know what happened between you and Dean but it wasn't real, it was created by an angel."

"Then why the hell does it still feel real Sam!?" I shout at him. He stares back at me, a blank look on his face. "Why does it gut me every time I-" I stop myself before the tears can form.

"Rhi…" Sam says. "I don't- I don't know what to say."

"There's nothing to say Sam," I say shaking my head. "I just- I just want to be alone for a while."

Sam nods his head and starts to head back towards the house, taking the gun with him. I let out a sigh as I watched him walk back towards the house. "Jerk," I say grabbing the whiskey off the barrel. I start walking around the junk yard, looking at the different cars while drinking the whiskey. The entire time I walked, thoughts about Dean ran rampant through my mind. Eventually it became too dark for me to see and my brain was just feeling way too fuzzy. Crawling into the backseat of some random clunker, I lay down on my back in the backseat, letting the now empty bottle to roll onto the floorboard. Looking up through the busted out ceiling I start counting the stars before I fell asleep. As I drift off, I vaguely hear someone yelling my name…I think.

When I wake, I immediately recognize the scent that only the inside of Bobby's house can give off. I open my eyes as I look around to see that I'm in my room. Sitting up on the edge of the bed, I start rubbing my pounding head. I was horrible with hangovers. Walking towards the door, I feel my stomach starting to roll. I throw the door open and bolt down the hallway to the bathroom, shoving past someone as I run down the hallway. Kneeling down in front of the toilet, my body expels all the alcohol I had consumed the night before. As the heaves are rolling through my body, I feel someone come in and grab my hair in their hands, holding it off my neck. After my stomach is empty and the after-shock dry heaves have ceased, I close the lid on the toilet and flush it.

"Well, that sucked," I say, resting my cheek on the lid, letting the coolness of it spread over my face.

"Come on," I hear a gruff voice say above me. I jump at the sound of it, having forgotten that someone had come in. A pair of strong hands wrap around my shoulders, helping me lift myself up to sit on the toilet. I look up and see Dean starting to crouch down in front of me. "You okay shorty?"

"What do you think?" I sneer at him. He was really the last person I wanted to see right now.

He doesn't say anything as he stands up and walks over to the sink. I rest my head in my hands as I hear the faucet turn on. A couple seconds later Dean crouches down in front of me. "Here," he says holding a washrag out in front of me. I take and mutter a thanks to him.

"How did I get inside," I ask him, pressing the cold washrag to my forehead.

"Well, when you didn't come in for hours after Sam went out to check on you we went out and looked for you," he says. "Found you in the back of an old mustang."

"Darn, I was aiming for the Impala in hopes I'd throw up in it," I say. I look up at him and see him just staring at me blankly. "I'm just kidding, Dean. Don't stroke out on me."

"Rhi," he says, letting out a sigh. "I don't- I mean-"

"Dean just stop," I say sitting up, straightening my back. "I didn't go off the deep end last night because of anything you did," I say, lying through my teeth. "I just- I was just freaked out because of the angels messing with my mind. I'm still getting used to this life and it just freaked me out that they could do all that. Plant us in a new life and everything."

I finally meet his stare and can tell instantly he doesn't believe a word I just said. "Alright," he says, nodding his head. "I can understand that."

"Thank you," I barely whisper, not even sure if he heard me or not.

"Come on," he says, tapping me on the knee. "Bobby's fixing up some grub and then we're heading out."

I get up slowly and follow him from the bathroom. "'We'," I ask. "Who all is 'we'?"

"Me and Sammy, and you," he says starting down the stairs. Suddenly he stops and turns back to look at me. "You know, if you want to go with us."

"I'll think about it," I say, squeezing past him on the staircase. Walking into the kitchen I tell Bobby and Sam good morning.

"How you feelin?" Sam asks me. I arch an eyebrow at him as I sit down next to him at the table with my cup of coffee. He lets out a laugh. "Well, I'm just glad I got the gun away from you. Who knows what you would've done."

"Hey, hey, hey," I say, sitting the mug down. "If there is one thing I am excellent at while I'm drunk it is handling firearms."

"So you can handle the firearms, just not your liquor?" Dean says with a smirk.

"Enough outta you," I say pointing at him. We all sit and stand in silence for a couple minutes. "So, what is this case Dean was telling me about."

"Seems like the run-of-the-mill haunting," Bobby says, sitting a plate of food in front of me. I hungrily start to ingest the too-greasy food. "Tenants reporting lights flickering, clawing sounds in the walls."

"There haven't been any deaths or anything yet so we're gonna head out in the morning," Dean says.

"You coming with us?" Sam asks me.

"I think I'll sit this one out," I say. "I think my shoulder may have gotten a little jacked up being tossed against the wall by Sandover."

"Alright," Dean says, shoving a final piece of bacon in his mouth. "That's fine. You stay here and rest up, you can help Bobby out around here or something. But for now, meet us out back in twenty."

"What for?" I ask him as he and Sam get up from the table. He doesn't answer me as they walk out the door. "Little turds," I mutter. I hear Bobby give a chuckle. "I think we'll make it forty since I didn't get an answer."

"Sounds fair to me," Bobby says as I hand him my empty plate. I give him a smile before heading upstairs to shower.

As if like clockwork, forty minutes later I'm walking through the rows of cars. I yell out the boys' names trying to locate them. I finally hear one of them respond to me. "What happened to 'meet us out back in twenty'?" Dean says as I walk up to him.

"Um," I say, putting the finishing touches on my braid. "You said that, but I never agreed."

"What were you doing anyways that took you forty freaking minutes anyways?" he asks me. I could tell he was getting frustrated with me.

"I had to shower and change," I say. I tug on the hem of my long-sleeved grey shirt, pulling it down over the waist band of my jeans. "You really don't want to start an argument with me Dean. I think you know from experience I always win."

He shuts his mouth with a snap as he gives me a hard look. I knew he was thinking back to our time as fake husband and wife and the couple of little spats we had. "Fine, whatever," he says. I give him a little smirk as he turns around to a barrel that was behind him. "Apparently you already know how to shoot a rifle. But, a handgun is going to be more effective in an attack." He turns back around and is holding a silver handgun. "Ever shot one of these."

"Once or twice," I say with a hard swallow. I was horrible with handguns, the kick always threw me off.

"Well, we would feel better leaving you here with Bobby or even having you out on the road with us if we know that you know how to fire one," Sam tells me.

Dean gives me a cocky grin as I walk up to him and take the gun. He shows me how to load it and arm it. "Alright," he says once he's pleased with my basic skills of it. "Let's see what you got shorty."

I let out a heavy sigh as I step up in front of the target. I knew before I even got the first shot off that I was going to miss. Sure enough, I did. The three of us spent the next half hour trying to get my aim better. After a while Sam went inside to get us all three a beer.

"I can't get this Dean," I say dropping the gun onto the barrel.

"Yeah, you pretty much suck," he says pushing himself off a nearby car. I give him an annoyed look as he walks over to me. "I'm sorry, but you do."

"Well help me un-suck," I say, watching him pick up the gun. "And don't just tell me 'aim higher, aim lower' either."

"Fine," he says with a sigh. He reloads the gun before walking closer to me. Handing me the gun, he grabs my shoulder spinning me to face the almost untouched target. "The main thing is that you are psyching yourself out, go on and lift the gun up," I do what he says and lift the gun up with my right hand, resting it in my left. "Now, relax your shoulders," He moves his hands to rest them on my shoulders, sending chillbumps down my arm. At his touch, I relax my shoulders. "Raise your arms up a little," he moves his hands down my arms, letting them come to rest over my hands. The chillbumps disappear as the warmth of his body heat creeps through my shirt.

"Dean," I say, my voice barely above a whisper. "What are you doing?"

"I'm helping you relax," he says, his voice husky. My knees started to go weak with his mouth right beside my ear. "Like it or not, I know how to make you relax. Now, take a deep breath and hold it. As you let it out, squeeze the trigger."

Obeying his order, I draw in a deep breath. I hold it for a couple seconds before releasing it as I squeeze the trigger. This time, instead of missing the target completely, I at least hit the outside edge of it.

"That's better," he says. Instead of stepping back from me, he takes his hands and rests them on my hips. "You can't take your time like that in a real attack, but you'll get better in time."

"Yeah, I guess so," I could feel my breathing shallowing with Dean's hands on my hips, gently squeezing them. "Dean, what are you…"

Before I can go on with my question, Dean gently spins me around. He locks my grey eyes in a gentle stare down with his green ones. Taking one of his hands, he cups the side of my face with it. My heart jumps to my throat as I watch him slowly lowering his face to mine. "Dean," I say. He ignores me as his lips stop right above mine, just barely touching them. "Dean, stop," I say, taking a hand and pushing back on his chest gently. He lifts his head a little, giving me a questioning look. I slowly lift the handgun still in my hand so he can see it. "I'm still holding a loaded gun," I whisper giving him a little smirk.

"I'm okay with that," he says, giving me a crooked grin.

I shake my head at him as I take a few steps back and set the gun down on the nearby barrel. I give him a little smile as I start to walk towards the house. He stops me by holding a hand out and grabbing my arm opposite of him. "Rhi…" he says, a side tone to his voice.

"No, Dean," I say quietly. He lets his hand fall down by his side as I start walking back towards the house.

I go upstairs and lay down to cry myself into a nap. A few hours later when I go back downstairs, I see only Bobby in the kitchen. "Where are the boys?" I ask him.

"They went ahead and left," he says. "A little bit after you went upstairs Dean came in and said they should go ahead and hit the road. Left about thirty minutes later."

"Oh, okay," I say sadly. I knew that he wanted to leave early because of me. I had a feeling that Bobby figured that too, but he knew not to say anything. The next couple days we didn't hear anything from the boys. Finally, Sam called.

"So this guy is writing these books based off you and Dean's lives?" I ask him.

"Yeah," he says with a humorless laugh. I can't help the loud laugh that escaped my mouth. "Yeah, it's real funny Rhi."

"Yeah, it's hysterical!" I say. I let out another round of laughter. "Oh Sam! Am I in any of them?"

"You probably are," he says in an annoyed tone.

"That's too awesome," I say. I click around on my laptop I was on when he called and pull up a fanpage about the book series. "Oh wow Sam, you've got to check out these fanpages." I tell him. "Well, besides the creepy books chronicling your lives, how are you boys doing?"

"We're fine," he says. "Dean's fine too."

"Thanks for that Sam," I say sarcastically.

"You two need to work out whatever is going on between you two," Sam says plainly, like it was the simplest thing in the world. "I care about you two and I hate seeing whatever is going on between you."

"Sam…" I say with a sigh. "It's not that simple. We had this whole life together, or I thought we did, I still have the memories of it. And we you know…did stuff…"

"Okay, overshare," Sam says cutting me off.

"Sorry, but you opened this can of worms," I tell him. "But still, I just…I have these feelings for him and I don't know how to act around him."

"I know what you mean," he says, a tint of sadness in his voice. "Our lifestyle isn't conducive for relationships."

"Yeah, exactly," I say. "Plus, who knows what I am."

"What do you mean?"

"I mean y'all are protecting me because I'm supposed to be some big player in the apocalypse," I say. I had this tiny fear bouncing around in my head, too afraid to admit it until now. "Sam, what if I'm something evil and y'all are supposed to-"

"What?" Sam says cutting me off. "Kill you if you turn. I've been down that road Rhi, that isn't going to happen."

_Dean's Point of View_

"Look," I hear Sam say when I open the door to our motel room. "We will figure out what the angels know about you one way or another. I don't think you're anything evil. Beside if you were, do you really think me or Dean would gank you?" I freeze at Sam's last statement. I knew he was talking to Rhiannon. "That isn't going to happen either. Just hang out at Bobby's and help him. Everything will turn out okay." Sam pauses for a second. "Alright, we will." He hangs up the phone.

"Was that shorty?" I ask nonchalantly.

"Yeah," Sam says. I pass him his bag with food in it. "I was telling her about the books."

"What was that last part about?" I ask him.

He shakes his head. "She's just a little freaked about what she is," he says. "She'll be alright though."

"You think so?" I ask him.

He nods his head. "Yeah, I do." I notice the little seed of doubt in his voice.

_Rhiannon's Point of View_

_I hope this works, _I think to myself as I come to a stop in the middle of Bobby's junk yard. I look up to the night sky, at the millions of stars. I shut my eyes as memories of my Granny come back to me.

"_Look up at the sky child," she says, placing a hand on my shoulder. I follow her hand as she points away from the house towards the sky. It was streaked and lit up with billions of stars. "The stars tell your destiny. And child, you have quite the future ahead of you."_

A smile creeps onto my face as I feel a warm breeze blow around me, whipping my hair around. Letting out a deep breath, I roll my shoulders as I set out to do what I came out here to do. "Cas?" I say towards the sky. "Castiel? I need to talk to you." Half a second later I hear a rustling sound. I look ahead of me and see Castiel standing there.

"Rhiannon," he says greeting me.

"Cas, I need to ask you something," I say.

"I've already told you," he says with a sigh. "I don't know-"

"I know," I say holding up my hands to him. "I know you don't know what I'm supposed to be. That's not what I called you here to ask you."

"What do you need?" he asks.

"Look, I've been doing a lot of thinking," I say. "We don't know if I'm supposed to be good or evil or what. If…if I am evil or am supposed to do something to harm the world or even just harm the boys I…"

Castiel waits a second before asking me. "You what?" I look down at my feet and kick a rock. Looking up at him, I see him looking at me with a curious look.

I take a deep breath before continuing. "Cas, I need you to do something for me," I say. "And you can't tell Sam…or Dean."


	12. Chapter 12

I stayed at Bobby's for the next couple weeks. Sam would call us to give us updates and ask for advice even with the whole finding out they have another brother thing. A couple days after they burned Adams' body, the boys came back to Bobby's.

"You boys okay?" I ask them as they walk into the kitchen.

"Yeah, we're good," Dean says getting into the fridge. I look over at Sam who shrugs his shoulders at me. "What about you shorty? You work on your aim any?"

"What else was there to do around here?" I ask him, leaning against the little table. He walks past me with a beer in his hand and out of the room. "I'm guessing he took the Adam situation hard?" I say to Sam once I no longer hear Dean's footsteps on the stairs.

"Yeah, he did," Sam says. "Wouldn't you?"

I look over at him and see sadness in his eyes. Nodding my head, I push myself off the table and walk out of the room, giving Sam a pat on the arm. I walk up the stairs slowly, not sure what I was heading up there to do. Walking down the hallway I walk up to the only bedroom that has the door closed.

"Dean?" I say quietly, knocking on the door. I hear him quietly yell for me to come on in. Opening the door, I see him standing over by a window. I still wasn't sure why I came to talk to him. I could tell he was upset though and I felt like I needed to talk to him. I walk over to the bed and sit down on it, folding my legs under myself. "So…y'all have another brother?" I say quietly, trying to break the silence.

"Had," Dean grunts. He turns around to face me, taking another drink of his beer. "We had another brother. He died because our past found him."

"Dean, it wasn't your fault," I say, looking up at him.

"Then why the hell do I feel guilty about it?" he yells. I jump a little at the volume of his voice. "I'm sorry," he says walking over to me. "I just…"

"I get it," I say shaking my head. "I mean, I never had brothers or sisters but I understand. He was family even if he was raised with you. Losing family is always hard."

"He just- he had this whole life ahead of him," he says sitting on the edge of the bed, his back to me. "He had a girlfriend, was pre-med. Now it's gone."

"At least he's in a better place though," I say, scooting slightly closer to him.

"I said the same exact thing to Sam," he says with a humorless chuckle. "It still doesn't make me feel any better."

"I know," I say. I reach out a place a hand on his shoulder. "I'm sorry." He places one of his hands over mine after a second. After I was certain he wasn't going to throw it off, I scoot over the bed so that I'm sitting next to him. He takes my hand and moves it so that it's resting on his leg with his hand around it. I look up at him and see his mouth set in a hard line, his jaw taut. Looking at his green eyes, I see them sparkling, not sure if they want to spill tears or not.

After a couple minutes of silence, Dean speaks up. "Sam told me what you two talked about," he says. I tense up, not sure what he was referring to.

"And what was that," I ask him.

"About how you're afraid you're going to go dark side," he says. I turn my head to see him looking down at me. "That's not going to happen Rhi."

"Dean, how do you know-"

"Cause I'm not going to let it," he says cutting me off. "I've already been through this with Sam, and I'm not going to let it happen to you. Also, you've got this like, freakin heart of gold or something, so I don't see that happening."

"'A freakin heart of gold'?" I say, arching an eyebrow at him. "Wow Dean, you're just making me swoon over here with your romantic vernacular."

"Hey, I'm trying," he says giving me a smirk. "But seriously, you aren't going to go dark side, you're too good of a person for that."

"Thank you," I say giving his hand a squeeze. I let out a deep breath, debating on whether or not I should say this next part. "Besides, if I do go dark side, I've got things planned."

"Things planned?" Dean says. He lets go of my hand and stands up so that he's towering over me. "What do you mean you have things planned."

I could see on his face he was getting upset. "You have your secrets, I have mine," I say.

"Rhi you tell me what you have planned or so help me I'll-"

"You'll what Dean?" I say, standing up to face him. "Lock me in the panic room? Keep all sharp objects away from me?" He looks down at me and gives me a hard look. "You can't do anything Dean. If I go dark side, it will happen and it will be for the best. Just please, trust me, I know what I'm doing."

He continues to give me a hard look. After a half a minute, it eases up a little bit. "You aren't going dark side though," he says.

I give him a little smile. Taking a deep breath, I go up on my toes and press my lips against his cheek. "I know you won't let me," I whisper into his ear. Before he can take my action any further, I take a step back. "Come on," I say, stuffing my hands into my back pockets of my jeans. "You and Sam must be starving. I'll fix you something to eat." I take a couple steps backwards before turning to walk towards the door.

"Just how I like my women," I hear Dean say. Stopping at the door, I turn back to arch an eyebrow at him. "Knows how to handle a firearm and cook."

"I'm not your woman Dean," I say giving him a wink before heading out the door.

A little while later, me, the boys, and Bobby are sitting around the little table in the kitchen eating. "Well would you look at us," Dean says. We all look up at him and see him looking around at us. "Don't we just look like the Waltons. All sitting around eating a family meal…warms my heart a little."

"Rhi, did you put drugs in Dean's burger?" Sam asks me.

"Nope," I say shaking my head. "He's talkin crazy all on his own."

"Well now that you two have ruined that moment," Dean says, tossing his napkin onto his plate. "We'll hit the road in an hour. You too, shorty."

"Sure, thanks, I'd love to go," I say sarcastically. "Thanks for so graciously asking me."

"What?" he says. "You'd rather hang around here with Bobby?"

"And what's so wrong with that?" Bobby grunts.

"Yeah, what's so wrong with that?" I say, looking at Dean and giving him a cocky grin.

He gives me an annoyed look. "Upstairs, now," he says pointing towards the stairs. "Pack your stuff and meet us out back."

"Nope," I say leaning back in my seat. I glance over at Sam who is sitting on my left. He gives me a _please-don't-be-a-pain-in-the-ass-to-him _look. I look back over at Dean who is just staring at me. "Not until you ask nicely."

"Shorty-" I arch an eyebrow at him. "Er-Rhiannon? Would you like to go out on the road with me and Sam?"

"Yes, Dean, I would," I say giving him an overly sweet smile. "I think I'll go pack a bag now and then I'll meet you out back." Before he can say anything, I stand up from the table and walk out of the room.

"Dude," I hear Sam say before I walk up the stairs. "Can you say whipped?"

"Shut up," I hear Dean say. A second later I hear the scraping of a chair and the back door slam.

An hour later after I had proved my aim with a handgun had gotten better, me, Sam, and Dean were driving down the road in the Impala. A little while later we pull up to a skeevy motel. "How about next time I pick the motel?" I say as we throw our bags onto the beds.

"No can do," Dean says. "We work on a budget. You'd have us up in a five star suite."

"I think a five star suite would do y'all some good," I say. I look around the room and take in our home for the night. "I'll take the couch tonight. There's no way either of you would fit on it."

"You don't have to sleep on the couch Rhi," Sam says.

I cock a hip out and place a hand on it. "Sam, go lay down on that couch," I say to him. He looks over at it, taking in its size. "You know neither of you amazon boys will fit on it. I'll sleep on it, it's okay."

"How about I go grab us some grub?" Dean says. He looks over at me. "Shorty you want to tag along?"

"Sure," I say nodding my head. He gives me a smile as I put my coat back on. I follow him out the door to the car. "Now, do I still have to ride in the backseat or do I get to ride shotgun?" I say as he walks up to the driver's door.

He gives me a deadpan look. "Just get in the car, Rhi," he says. I give him a smile as I crawl into the front seat. We drive through the nameless town, listening to Dean's collection of tapes. "Hey, you said back at Bobby's that you didn't have any brothers or sisters. Was that true?"

"Yeah," I say. "I was an only child."

"Parent's just not want any other kids?"

"No," I say. I hadn't realized until now, but Sam and Dean probably knew very little about my past. "They died in a car crash when I was two. My mom was pregnant with her second child."

"I'm sorry," Dean says after a couple minutes of silence.

"Thank you," I say. "My granny took me in after that. Raised me. I think I turned out alright."

"Yeah," he says. "You sure did." I look over at him and see him giving me a cocky grin. I reach over and punch him in the arm.

We ride through the town a little bit longer until I spot a drugstore. "Hey, would you mind dropping me off there? I need to pick up a few things." He looks over at me and gives me an _are-you-kidding-me-look. _"I'll be fine," I tell him. "I got that anti-possession charm Bobby gave me and a thing of holy water. You can run down the street and get the food. I'll be done by the time you get back."

He let out a groan as he pulls into the parking lot of the drugstore. Instead of stopping at the door, he pulls into to a spot and puts the car in park. "You have ten minutes," he grunts. "You aren't back here in ten, I'm comin in for you."

"Fair enough," I say with a shrug. I climb out of the car and walk into the store. Grabbing up a basket, I start to make my way through the aisle, putting the few basic things I needed in the basket. As I pass one of the aisles, I glance down it and see a little girl standing in the middle of the aisle all alone, staring at me. I stop and she continues to stare at me. I look around to see if anyone else notices her, but I don't see anyone else in the store. Against the voice in my head telling me no, I walk down the aisle towards her. "Can I help you?" I ask her.

"You're the one," she says in a monotone voice.

"Are you a demon?" I ask stupidly.

"No," she answers. "You are the one."

"What does that mean? 'I'm the one'," I say.

"You will bring joy to the world," she says.

"What?" I say. I look at her eyes and I'm frozen. I would recognize those eyes anywhere; they were the eyes of my grandmother. "Granny?" I say quietly. In a blink, I hear the voices of the other shoppers return. I look back at the little girl, but she's no longer alone. Instead, she's standing by another woman, looking at items on the shelf. With my legs shaking and my mind screaming, I walk to the front of the store and pay for my stuff.

"What's wrong?" Dean says as I crawl into the Impala. I shake my head at him, unable to speak. "Rhi, what's wrong?" he says, grabbing me by the shoulders and spinning me to face him.

"I'm fine," I say, my voice barely above a whisper.

"Son of a bitch," he growls. He lets go of my shoulders and slams the car into reverse before pealing out of the parking lot. Within minutes, we're back at the hotel. Before I can even think about getting out of the car, Dean is at my door, opening it and helping me out.

"What happened?" Sam says as we walk into the room.

"I don't know," Dean says as he sits me down on the couch. I felt like everything was moving in slow motion. "She went into a drugstore to pick up a few things and she came out like this." He pulls a chair up in front of me a sits down, trying to get me to look him in the eye. "Rhi, what happened in there?"

I feel the weight on the couch shift as Sam sits down next to me. "I, um," I say trying to find my voice. Without a word, Dean gets up and rummages around in his bag. He comes back over to me and hands me a flask. I slowly lift the flask up to my lips before taking a swig of the burning whiskey inside, letting it run down my throat. The burning liquid gives me enough strength to talk. "There was, um, this little girl, in the store."

"A little girl?" Dean says.

"Lillith?" Sam asks.

I shake my head. "It wasn't a demon," I say. "She said, um, she said I was the one. That I would bring joy to the world."

"Bring joy to the world?" Dean says. "What else did she say."

I shake my head again. "Nothing," I say. "Um, it's just um," I say. I could feel tears forming in my eyes. I press my hands together, propping my elbows on my knees. Leaning my head down, I let the tears fall out of my eyes onto my pant legs. When I look up, Dean is looking at me sadly, like he hated to see me crying.

"What was it?" Sam asks quietly.

"I think," I start to say. "I think it was my grandmother."

After my revelation, we spent the rest of the evening, calling Bobby, trying to figure out what the thing was and what its message could've meant. We tried to call Castiel down to us, but he never came. Eventually, we all gave up for the night and fell asleep. I ended up finishing Dean's flask so I was sleeping very heavy that night. Right when I was in the middle of a really good dream, I feel someone shaking my shoulder. "Rhi," the voice says. "Rhi, get up." I open my eyes to see Dean standing over me. "Come on, we got to get going." Still half asleep, I follow him and Sam out to the car where they toss our bags into the trunk. As we drive down the road, I fit to stay awake as Dean tells us about his dream with Castiel. I eventually pass back out. A couple hours later, Dean is waking me up again.

A little more awake, I follow them out of a car and look around at our surroundings. "What are we doing at an old warehouse?" I say.

"Cas told me to come here," Dean says. I remember him telling me that now when we first got in the car. I follow Sam and Dean silently as we enter the warehouse. All three of us turn on our flashlights on as we start to walk through the warehouse floor. "Well, what did he say, Dean? What was so important?"

"If I knew, would I be here?" Dean says. Like a petulant child I stick my tongue out at the back of his head as I follow him and Sam up a flight of stairs. "What the hell?"

Once I reach the top of the stairs I step up to the other side of Dean to see what they were talking about. It was a total disaster area.

"It looks like a bomb went off," Sam says.

"There was a fight here," Dean says.

"Between who?" I say. We all three start looking around to try and find an answer. I look over in time to see Dean's flashlight land on a symbol painted in what appeared to blood on the wall.

"Check it out," Dean says. Me and Sam follow him as he walks closer to it. "Look familiar?"

"Yeah, it does," Sam says the same time that I say No.

"Anna used something like that to wish the angels back to the cornfield," Dean explains to me.

"Anna?" I say. "You mean that redheaded angel? Y'all know her too?" Dean nods his head at me.

"So, what? Cas was fighting angels?" Sam guesses.

"I don't know," Dean says. We all break away from the symbol to walk around and try to find Castiel. As I round a corner of fallen ceiling, I see him lying on a pile of rubble.

"Sam! Dean!" I yell behind me as I run up to him. "Cas? Cas." I take my fist and start rubbing circle on his sternum while feeling for a pulse. "Hey, Cas?"

Sam and Dean come running up behind me, coming to a stop on either side of me. Suddenly, Castiel's eyes fly open as he stands up and moves away from us.

"What's . . . ? What's . . . ?" he stammers. "What's going on?"

"Just take it easy," Dean says, holding his hands up. "Take it easy."

"Oh," he says, getting a worried look on his. He pats up and down his body, as if to make sure it was really there. "No."

"Cas," I say taking a couple steps towards him. "You okay?"

"Ugh. Castiel," he says. "I'm not Castiel. It's me."

"Who's 'me'?" Sam says. I look over at the two men to see they are equally as confused as I am.

"Jimmy." He says. "My name's Jimmy."

"Where the hell is Castiel?" Dean growls at the man.

Jimmy lets out a sigh before looking at all three of us. "He's gone."


	13. Chapter 13

After loading Jimmy into the Impala and stopping for food, we check in at a motel and let Jimmy eat.

"Mmm," Jimmy says after taking his third bite without finishing the one before.

"You mind slowing down?" I say. "You're gonna give me angina."

"I'm hungry," he says, taking yet another bite.

"When's the last time you ate?" Sam asks him.

"I don't know," Jimmy says with a shrug. "Months?" He continues to devour his food, like he really hadn't eaten in months. "Mmm. Mmm. Mmm!"

"What the hell happened back there?" Sam asks him. "It looked like an angel battle royale."

"All I remember is a flash of light and I, uh . . ." Jimmy says, wiping his mouth off. "I woke up and I was just, you know, like, me again."

"So, what?" Dean says, looking at Jimmy suspiciously. "Cas just ditched out of your meat suit?"

"I really don't know," Jimmy says with another shrug.

"You remember anything about being possessed?" I ask him. "Anything at all?"

"Yeah, bits and pieces," he says. "I mean, angel inside of you, it's kinda like being chained to a comet."

"Ah, that doesn't sound like much fun," Dean says, wincing a little.

"Understatement," Jimmy says, eyes going wide.

"Cas said he wanted to tell us something," Sam says. "Please tell me you remember that."

Jimmy gives us an apologetic look as he shakes his head. "Sorry."

"Come on, what do you know?" Dean says, growing visibly agitated.

"My name is Jimmy Novak," Jimmy says with certainty. "I'm from Pontiac, Illinois."

"Alright," Dean says, slapping the table lightly. "Team meeting outside."

I follow Sam and Dean outside as they walk over to the Impala, keeping the door of our room in sight. "So, what do we do?" Sam asks.

"What do you mean? The guy's got a family," Dean says motioning towards the room. "We buy him a bus ticket, send him home."

"I don't know about that," Sam says, shaking his head. "Dean, he's the only lead we got."

"He doesn't know anything," I point out.

"Are you 100 percent about that?" Sam says, looking at me.

"You think he's lying?" Dean says. "What, you wanna go Guantanamo on the guy?"

"Dean, maybe he doesn't even know what he knows," Sam says.

"Huh?"

"I say, we at least get him to Bobby's," Sam says. "Maybe all he needs is hypnosis or a psychic. Or hell, maybe Cas will just drop back into him."

Dean shakes his head slowly, not totally convinced. "I don't know, man."

"Dean, back there, that was angel-on-angel violence," Sam says. "Now, I don't know what's going on, but it's big. And we can't just let the only lead we got just skip out." Dean shakes his head and lets out a humorless chuckle. "What?"

"You remember when our job was helping people?" Dean says. "Like, getting them back to their families?"

"You think I don't want to help him? I'm just being realistic," Sam says. "I mean, hell, we're doing him a favor."

"How?" I ask.

"Rhi, if we want to question the guy, you can damn well bet the demons do, too," Sam says.

Dean lets out a sigh of defeat. He throws his hands up in the air, silently admitting that Sam was right. We follow him back into the motel room where he breaks the bad news to Jimmy.

"The hell are you talking about, I can't go home?" Jimmy says, visibly angry.

"There's a good chance you have a bull's-eye on your back," Dean says.

"What?" Jimmy says. "From who?"

"Demons," I tell him.

"Come on, that's crazy," he says, looking at me like I was crazy. "What do they want with me?"

"I don't know, information, maybe?" Dean says.

"I don't know anything," Jimmy says, a panic rising in his voice.

"I know, but –"

"Look, I'm done, okay? With demons, angels, all of it. I just want to go home," Jimmy whines.

"We understand," I say, holding up a hand to him.

"I don't think that you do understand," he spits at me. "I've been shot and stabbed and healed, and my body has been dragged all over the Earth. By some miracle, I'm out, and I am done. I've given enough, okay?"

"Look, all we're saying is that until we figure this out, the safest place is with us," Sam says.

"How long?" Jimmy demands looking at each of us.

"We'll cross that bridge when we get to it," Sam says.

Jimmy shakes his head and tries to move past Sam to get to the door.

"Where are you going?" Dean says as Sam stops Jimmy.

"To see my wife and daughter, okay?" Jimmy says.

"No, you're not," Sam says. "You're just going to put those people in danger."

"So, what, now I'm a prisoner?" Jimmy says.

"Harsh way to put it," Sam says, an innocent smile crossing his face.

Jimmy lets out a sigh as he flops down on one of the beds. I follow suite and crawl onto the other bed. After a little while, Dean comes and sits beside me in the bed. I tried not to think of how close he was sitting next to me. Eventually, I fell asleep.

A couple hours after I fell asleep, I'm being woken up by Sam yelling at Dean that Jimmy was gone. When I open my eyes I see that my head was somehow lying on Dean's chest. Dean gets up slowly and goes into the bathroom. While he's in there, Sam starts frantically packing his bag.

Afraid he's going to start yelling at me, I get up and start packing my bag too. I look up from my bag to see Dean leisurely walking out the bathroom, brushing his teeth. "Dean. Would you hurry up?" Sam barks at him. Dean laughs, toothbrush still in his mouth. "Sorry, uh, this is funny to you?"

Once my bag is zipped up, I sit back down on the bed and start to pull my boots on. "Mr. Big-Bad-Prison-Guard, Jimmy McMook give you the slip?" Dean says, being a smart alleck. "Yeah, it's pretty funny. What were you doing, anyway?"

"I was getting a Coke." Sam says.

"Was it a refreshing Coke?" Dean sarcastically asks.

"Can we just go, please?" Sam says, visibly panicking. Dean rolls his eyes as he goes back into the bathroom. A few minutes later, he walks back out and grabs up my bag and his and carries them out to the car while me and Sam follow.

We start driving down the road, heading towards Pontiac, Illinois. A little ways down the road, I start dozing off. Suddenly, a redheaded girl appears in the backseat next to me, causing me to scream, causing Dean to jerk the car into the next lane and then correct it into his own lane.

"Hey, guys," the girl says. I recognize her as Anna. "Smooth." She says when Dean turns around to see what I had screamed about.

"You ever try calling ahead?" he growls at her.

"I like the element of surprise," she says simply.

"Well, you look terrific." Dean says. I arch my eyebrow at him.

"Um, yeah, not the most appropriate time, Dean." Anna says brushing off the comment. "You let Jimmy get away?"

Dean jerks his thumb towards Sam. "Talk to ginormo here."

Anna scoots up on the seat a little bit and looks at Sam hard. "Sam. You seem different."

"Me? I don't know." Sam says, turning around to face her. He plants a not so innocent smile on his face. "Heh. A haircut?"

"That's not what I'm talking about." She says. Anna continues to look at him until Sam looks away and then she turns back to Dean. "So, what'd Jimmy tell you? He remember anything?"

"Why?" Dean asks her. "What's going on?"

"It's Cas. He got sent back home," she says. "Well, more like dragged back."

"To heaven?" I say. Anna turns to look at me like she just realized I was there. "That's not a good thing?"

"No. That's a very bad thing." She says. "Painfully, awfully bad. He must have seriously pissed someone off."

"Cas said he had something to tell me." Dean says, recapturing her attention. "Something important."

"What?"

"I don't know." Dean says.

"Does Jimmy know?" she asks.

"I don't think so," Dean says, shaking his head.

"You don't think so?" Anna says. "Whatever it is, it's huge. You gotta find out for sure."

"That's why we're going after Jimmy." Sam says.

"That's why you shouldn't have let him go in the first place." She sneers at him. A sad look crosses her face. "He's probably dead already."

Before anyone can say anything, she disappears. I look at Sam and Dean who both have guilty looks on their faces. We drive on until the daytime fades into night. About halfway there, Dean pulls over at a gas station to fill up the Impala. Me and Sam both get out to stretch our legs. Sam mutters something about taking a walk before quickly walking away. I walk around the car and come to a stop next to Dean who was filling up the car.

"Do you really think he's dead?" I ask him.

He looks at me and lets out a sigh. "I don't know," he says looking down. He waits a couple seconds before looking up at me again. "I really don't know."

"Do you even think the demons know who Jimmy Novak is?" I say, leaning against the car. "I mean, unless they were at that angel battle, I don't know how they could know that Cas took over Jimmy Novak's body."

"I hope your right," Dean says. He gives me a half-hearted smile. He looks around and then in the car. "Where'd Sam go?"

"I don't know," I say, looking in the direction he had walked off to. I could vaguely make out his tall figure. "He's over there," I say pointing towards him.

"What's he doing?" Dean says, hanging the gas pump back up. I look at him and give him a shrug. Shaking his head, he looks back at me. "I'm going in to pay, you need anything?"

"Yeah, I'll take a coke," I tell him. He gives me a little smirk before walking towards the door. I walk back around to the other side of the car to get back in. As I round the tail end of the car, I feel a strong wind hit my face. Suddenly, I feel my knees going weak and my head starts to swim. The sensation is almost too much for me to take. I lean back against the back door of the car and start to sink to the ground. As I feel my bottom hit the ground, I hear someone calling my name. When I look up I see Sam coming to a sliding stop in front of me.

As soon as he places his hand on my shoulder, the sensation stops. "Rhi," he frantically says. "What the hell, are you okay?"

"Yeah, yeah," I say shaking my head. "I'm fine." I try to stand up, but my knees still feel a little weak and I fall to the ground again.

"What the hell just happened?" he says.

"I-I just," I frantically search around in my brain, trying to come up with an excuse. "I just think my sugar dropped."

"Your sugar dropped?" He says arching an eyebrow at me.

"Yeah," I say. "My blood sugar is just a little low, I think from all the excitement." As I finish the lie to Sam, Dean comes around the back of the car.

Looking down at me and Sam, he takes in the scene. "What the hell," he says, dropping the bag of junk food he had. He takes a couple steps and drops to his knees besides me. "Shorty what the hell happened to you?"

"I'm fine," I say holding my hands up.

"She says her blood sugar dropped," Sam tells Dean. They give each other a look, silently agreeing I was full of crap.

"That's why I asked you to get me the coke," I tell Dean. He gives me a hard look as he reaches behind him and grabs the coke bottle out of the bag. I take it from his hands and take a long drink after twisting the top off. Leaning my head back against the car, I take a couple deep breaths before opening my eyes and looking at the boys again. The coke did make me feel better. "Alright, I'm better now, can you two back up so I can stand up?"

They stand up and back up a little. Dean extends out a hand and helps me up. He gives me a knowing look before turning around and picking up the bag he had dropped. I try not to meet the boys' eyes before getting in the car. The rest of the ride was silent as we neared Pontiac. As we pull up to what we believed was Jimmy's house, Dean kills the engine. "Is this his house?" I ask silently.

"I think so," Dean says. We sit outside the house and stare at for a couple minutes. "Something isn't right," he mutters. Me and Sam follow him as he silently gets out of the cars. We continue to follow him around the back of the house until we reach the back door. Inside, we hear people yelling and things crashing. Dean burst through the door and runs through the house. As I come up behind him in the living room, I arrive in time to see him slit the throat of a demon that was holding on to a little girl.

Another woman that was in the room stands up, eyes jet black and starts to advance towards Dean. Sam throws his arm in the arm and somehow makes the woman stop.

"Go!" Sam yells at Jimmy. "Get them out of here."

"Go, go!" Dean yells also. Jimmy puts an arm around a woman I assumed was his wife and the little girl and runs them out of the room. I turn back and look at Sam to see him concentrating harder, still holding the demon in place. Suddenly, I see the demon smile, the hold Sam had on her broken.

"Aw. Can't get it up, can you, Sam?" she says as she starts to walk towards Sam.

Panic flashes in Sam's eyes as he isn't sure what to do. "No, but I can." I turn to see Dean advancing towards her with the knife. Before he can stab her though, black smoke flies out of the woman's body as the demon escapes.

"Come on," Dean grunts to me and Sam. We follow him out of the house to the Impala where Jimmy and his family are waiting.

I squeeze in the front seat between Dean and Sam while the Novaks huddle in the backseat together. Dean drives us in silence to a parking garage.

When we arrive at the parking garage, me, Sam, Dean, and Jimmy get out of the car.

"You were right," Jimmy says with a sigh.

"I'm sorry we were." Dean says.

"I'm telling you," Jimmy claims again. "I don't know anything."

"I don't think they're inclined to believe you," I tell him.

"And even if they did, you're a vessel," Sam says. "They're still gonna wanna know what makes you tick."

"Which means vivisection," Dean says, giving him a sarcastic smirk. "If they're feeling generous."

"I'm gonna tell you once again, you're putting your family in danger," Sam demands. "You have to come with us."

"How long?" Jimmy asks. "And don't give me that "cross that bridge when we get to it" crap."

"Don't you get it? Forever. The demons will never stop. You can never be with your family," Sam says, exasperated. "So you either get as far away from them as possible or you put a bullet in your head. And that's how you keep your family safe. But there's no getting out and there's no going home."

"Well, don't sugarcoat it, Sam," Dean says, looking at Sam.

"I'm just telling him the truth, Dean. Someone has to." Sam says simply.

Jimmy lets out a sigh as he climbs back into the Impala to talk to his wife. Once Jimmy is in the car, Sam walks over a car and starts to break into it. I look over at Dean who is watching Jimmy and Amelia.

"I know it sucks," I say taking a step closer to him, enough so that our arms are touching. "But it is the right thing."

"I just wish there was some other way," Dean says quietly. I look up at him and give him a sad look. After a couple seconds of silence, Dean leans down a little bit to whisper in my ear. "You know you're going to explain to me what happened at that gas station."

I swallow hard as I turn my head to look at him. His eyes bore into mine, letting me know I have no other choice. Before I can say anything, Jimmy, Amelia, and Claire get out of the car as Sam starts up the one he broke into.

"Here's your car," Sam says to Amelia. She gives him a thankful smile.

Jimmy kneels down to talk to his daughter. "Hey. Take care of your mom, okay, bub?"

"Okay," she says nodding her head. He leans forward and gives her a kiss on the cheek.

When he stands up, he climbs into the back seat of the Impala without giving anyone a second look. Me, Sam, and Dean do the same before Dean drives off, leaving Amelia and Claire standing there.

As we drive down the road, Jimmy falls asleep. A couple minutes after he falls asleep, a steady rain starts to fall. The rain starts to lull me to sleep until Dean speaks up, snapping me back awake.

"What the hell happened back there?" he snaps at Sam.

"What?" Sam says innocently.

"You practically fainted trying to gank a demon."

"Okay, I didn't faint," Sam says. "I got a little dizzy."

"Well, you can call it whatever you want," Dean says waving him off. "Point is, you used to be strong enough to kill Alastair. Now you can't even kill a stunt-demon number three?"

"What do you want me to say about it, Dean?" Sam says, getting frustrated.

"Well for starters, what's going on with your mojo?" Dean snaps. "I mean, it's yo-yoing all over the place. I'm not trying to pick a fight here, okay? I just – you're scaring me, man."

"I'm scaring myself," Sam says quietly. Before Dean can respond, Sam's cellphone starts ringing. He digs around in his pocket before pulling it out and pressing it to his ear. "Hello? . . . Who is this?" He looks at it before turning around and lightly hitting Jimmy. Jimmy jumps awake as Sam holds the phone out to him. "Hey. It's your wife."

Jimmy looks at the phone curiously before taking it. "Amelia?" he says, pressing the phone to his ear. As he listens to the other end his eyes grow wide. " . . . Oh, my God." He listens for a few minutes before handing the phone back to Sam. He tells us an address and demands we go towards it, telling us Amelia was a demon now.

"Alright, they're expecting you to come alone," Dean says as we all get out of the car. "That's exactly what you're gonna do."

"We'll work our way through the catwalks," Sam tells him. "We'll be right behind you."

"All you gotta do is stay calm and stall," Dean says as he opens the trunk. He starts rummaging around in the trunk and handing me and Sam a gun. "Let us do our job."

"You want me to stay calm?" Jimmy demands. "This is my family we're talking about."

"Listen to me, this will work," Dean says. He shuts the trunk before turning to face Jimmy. "You understand? Nobody's gonna get hurt."

"Yeah, whatever." Jimmy says. "Give me a minute, okay?" Dean nods his head as Jimmy walks away from us towards the warehouse.

"There's no way they're expecting him to come alone, Dean." I say. "You know this is probably a trap."

"Yeah, I know," he says giving me a smirk. "That's why I have a plan." I look at him and arch an eyebrow. "Hey," he says, grabbing my wrist and pulling me a little closer to him. "Stick close to me, alright?" he says it low enough for just me to hear. I nod my head at him as the three of us start to walk around to the back of the warehouse.

We walk in a single file line with Sam in front of me and Dean behind me. Sam opens up a rusty door, looks around inside then motions for me to go in. As soon as I have both feet inside the door, I feel a pair of arms grab me, clamping a hand down over my mouth before I can scream. Seconds later, Dean and Sam walk in and see me. Sam pulls out his gun and Dean pulls out the demon killing knife. Before either of them can act, two more demons come up behind them and grab them, taking their weapons away.

"You sonsa bitches better let us go!" Dean snarls. The demon holding me uncovers my mouth and lets out a bone-chilling laugh.

"But this one is so pretty, I may just keep her for myself," he says.

Dean struggles against the hold the other demon has on him. "I swear if you harm one hair on her I'll gut you from the inside out."

"Enough," the demon holding Sam says. "Let's get these three to the boss."

The demon holding me jerks me around, leading me through the warehouse. We walk until we reach a large open floor where I see Jimmy, Amelia, and Claire sitting in a chair knocked out.

_Dean's Point of View_

"Nice plan, Dean," Sam says as we enter the warehouse floor.

"Yeah, well, nobody bats 1,000," I say, struggling against the demon holding me. I was glad Sam was being a smart ass with me, I didn't want Rhiannon knowing I was internally freaking out.

"Got the knife?" Amelia says. The demon holding Sam pulls the knife out of his belt and holds it up before tossing it on the ground in front of him. "And you know what's funny?" Amelia says, walking up to me.

"You wearing a soccer mom?" I say.

"I was actually bummed to get this detail, picking up an empty vessel. Sort of like a milk run," she says, stepping up to me. "Now look who landed in my lap."

"Yeah, well, you got us, okay?" Sam says. "Let these people go."

"Oh, Sam. It's easy to act chivalrous when your Wonder Girl powers aren't working, huh? Now for the punch line," I watch as she motions at the demon holding Rhiannon. He roughly pushes her over next to Jimmy. "Everybody dies."

Amelia turns to face the two of them, pulling out a gun. She points the gun at Jimmy and fires it, hitting him in the stomach. Instead of freaking out like most girls would, Rhiannon turned down towards Jimmy, looking to help him. Amelia must not of calculated her doing that, because when she turned the gun on Rhiannon, it hit her square in the chest instead of the stomach.

I watch in horror as Rhiannon lets go of Jimmy, her eyes wide, and then falls to the ground.

I vaguely hear what Amelia says before she leaves the room, the anger is screaming too loudly in my head. I watch the demon that was holding Rhiannon walk over Jimmy and Rhiannon's bodies to Claire who is still tied up to the chair. As he goes to swing a pipe at her, she suddenly lifts her arm up and stops it. Taking her other hand, she places it on the demon's forehead. A bright light shines out from his face before he falls to the floor. Using the distraction, I push on the demon holding me as I notice Sam does the same.

Jimmy turns to look at his daughter. "Castiel," he whispers. I turn to fight the demon that was holding me as I notice Sam grab the knife and slash the demon that was holding him. As I'm fighting the demon, Castiel comes up and silently places a hand on the demon, killing it. I turn to look at Sam to help him, but instead see him drinking the demon's blood. I continue to watch in horror until he suddenly turns to look at me, blood cover his mouth. He turns back around and plunges the knife in the demon, killing it. He suddenly stands up and holds out his hand pointing it towards me and Castiel. We turn around to see Amelia behind us, frozen in midstride. Black smoke starts pouring from her mouth as Sam exorcises her. Once the demon is gone, Amelia falls to the ground.

Not even noticing her anymore now that the demon is gone, I race over to Rhiannon. "Rhi," I yell, picking her up and placing her in my lap. She doesn't move. "Hey, shorty," I say shaking her slightly. She still doesn't move.

"Of course we keep our promises. Of course you have our gratitude. You served us well. Your work is done." I look up when I hear the little girl's voice. "It's time to go home now. Your real home. You'll rest forever in the fields of the Lord. Rest now, Jimmy."

"No. Claire?" Jimmy says, sadness in his voice and all over his face.

"She's with me now. She's chosen." Castiel says. "It's in her blood, as it was in yours." I look down at Rhiannon again, her eyes closed and her face expressionless. I see Sam walk up and kneel down next to us, trying to feel for a pulse in Rhiannon's neck. He looks up at me and shakes his head slightly.

"Please, Castiel. Me, just take me," Jimmy pleads. "Take me, please."

"I wanna make sure you understand. You won't die or age," Castiel says. "If this last year was painful for you, picture a hundred, a thousand more like it."

"It doesn't matter. You take me," Jimmy says. He clutches at his stomach as more blood oozes out of it. "Just take me."

"As you wish," Castiel says. She touches Jimmy's face as a bright light shines from his eyes and mouth. Once the light is gone, Claire falls to the ground, panting.

The old Castiel stands up and Claire runs to Amelia and hugs her. Castiel looks at Amelia who gives him a slight nod. When she turns to hug her daughter, Castiel turns to leave.

"Cas!" I yell after him. He turns to look at me, a hard serious look on his face. "Please." He moves his eyes down slightly, taking in Rhiannon's lifeless form in my arms. He walks up to us as Sam moves out of the way. Castiel reaches down and places two fingers on Rhiannon's forehead.

As he pulls his hand away, Rhiannon takes in a big gasp of air like she had been underwater for a long time. She coughs and hacks as Castiel stands up, looming over us.

When she's done coughing, she looks up at me like she's not really sure I'm real. "Dean?" she says.

"Hey shorty," I say giving her a smirk. Without a word, she throws her arms around my neck and buries her face in it. As I hold her tightly to me, I open my eyes and see Cas walking away. "Cas, hold up. What were you gonna tell me?"

"I learned my lesson while I was away, Dean," he says coldly. "I serve heaven, I don't serve man, and I certainly don't serve you."

I watch as he walks away, not sure what to say.

_Rhiannon's Point of View_

_I was dead…I was dead…I was dead…_The thought kept circulating through my mind as Dean had Sam bring me out to the car while he said he was going to go try to chase Castiel. He was silent and had a hard look on his face as he got into the front seat.

Dean continued to stay silent as he drove through the rain to an unknown location. Sam finally broke the silence. "All right, let's hear it."

"What?" Dean says, breaking out of whatever thoughts were running through his mind.

"Drop the bomb, man. You saw what I did." Sam says. "Come on, stop the car, take a swing."

"I'm not gonna take a swing." Dean says, shaking his head.

"Then scream, chew me out," Sam says getting aggravated with Dean. _Sam what did you do?_

"I'm not mad, Sam," Dean says nonchalantly.

"Come on," Sam says, not believing Dean. "You're not mad?"

"Nope."

"Right." Sam scoffs. "Look, at least let me explain myself."

"Don't." Dean holds up a hand to stop Sam from speaking. "I don't care."

"You don't care?"

"What do you want me to say, that I'm disappointed?" Dean says. "Yeah, I am. But, mostly, I'm just tired, man. I'm done. I am just done."

Before Sam can reply, his phone rings. He lets out a sigh as he answers it. "Hey, Bobby." There was a pause. "What's going on?" Sam looks at the phone before he stuffs it back in his pocket.

"What'd he say?" I ask.

"Said we needed to get over there ASAP," Sam says. Dean nods his head as he presses down on the accelerator slightly, making the engine roar a little louder.

When we get to Bobby's, he pulls me into a crushing hug when I walk through the door. "You okay kid?" he asks me when he lets me go.

"Yeah," I say nodding my head. I look down to see I'm still in the blood covered shirt. He gives me a halfhearted smile as Dean and Sam come in the door. He waves his hand motions for us to follow.

"Come on," he grunts. "To the panic room." The three of us follow him as he leads the way down stairs. As we near the panic room door, I grow more curious. "Well, thanks for shaking a tail."

"Yeah, you got it," Dean says. Him and Bobby both stop and stop me also, letting Sam go in front of all of us. Sam doesn't even notice and he opens the panic room door, pausing at the entrance.

"Go on inside," Bobby says. "I wanna show you something."

As Sam walks into the panic room, I look over at Dean who just shakes his head at me, silently telling me he'd explain later.

"All right," Sam says. He turns around and looks at Dean and Bobby. "So, uh, what's the big demon problem?"

"You are," Bobby says. "This is for your own good."

I watch as Dean and Bobby slam the heavy door shut and lock it.

"Dean what are you doing?" I ask.

He ignores me as Sam starts banging on the door. "Guys? Hey, hey. What?"

Bobby shuts the window in the door and turns to head for the stairs.

"Y'all aren't just gonna leave him in there?" I say, looking at Dean.

"Come on shorty," Dean grunts, grabbing me by the elbow and leading me to the stairs. As I walk up the stairs with Dean pushing me up them I look at the panic room door where Sam was still yelling.

"This isn't funny. Guys! Hey! Guys?"

**A/N: Thank you all soooooooo much for all the reviews! Y'all don't even realized how much I appreciate them :) ****Dalonega Noquisi, ****I am soooo curious to know what your theory is! Everyone else feel free to review and thank you so much for reading!**


	14. Chapter 14

"Dean!" I yell at him once he shuts the door to the basement. "Why did you do that? You can't do that to Sam!"

"He was drinking demon blood!" he yells at me.

I recoil, part from the information, part from the anger in Dean's voice. "What?" I whisper.

"When you were…" Dean says. "You know…Before Sam ganked the demon that had him, he was drinking it's blood."

"No," I say shaking my head. "Sam wouldn't do that."

"Yeah well he was," Dean says. "And has been too by my guess. That's how he's been controlling the demons and exorcising them and such."

I wipe away angrily at the tears that were trickling down my face. I didn't want to believe Sam would do that. "So what?" I say looking from the door to Dean. "You're detoxing him or something?"

"Yeah," Dean says nodding his head. "Cold turkey."

"You can't do that," I say shaking my head.

"I've already-"

"No I'm not saying you can't detox him," I say, going into nurse mode. "I'm guessing he's been doing this for a long time and when you detox someone from something like this it can be very traumatic. And that's just for non-supernatural stuff. There's no telling what-"

"Save the medical mumbo-jumbo crap," he says holding a hand up to me. "That is my brother down there and I'm doing what I think is best for him. End of story."

Without saying another word to me, Dean pushes past me and heads down into the basement. I let out a sigh as I walk into the den where Bobby was pouring three glasses of whiskey. "I don't like this," I say picking up one of the glasses.

"Yeah, I'm not a huge fan of it either," Bobby says. I sit down in an empty chair and run a hand through my hair. "But what other choice do we have."

I take a drink of the whiskey as I hear footsteps pounding on the stairs and Sam yelling. Dean comes walking into the room, grabbing one of the glasses off the desk.

"How long is this gonna go on?" Dean says with a sigh.

"Here, let me look it up in my demon-detox manual." Bobby says sarcastically. "Oh wait. No one ever wrote one. No telling how long it'll take."

"Or if Sam will even live through it," I add before finishing my whiskey.

"What was that?" Dean says turning to me.

"Nothing," I say slamming the glass down. I stand up from the chair and push past Dean.

"Where the hell are you going?" he says, stopping me by grabbing my elbow.

"I'm going upstairs to change out of the shirt that I was shot in," I say throwing his hand off my arm. "Or is that not allowed? You gonna throw me in the panic room with Sam?"

"You know what?" he says. "I don't give a crap what you do. Take off for all I care. I'm doing what _I _think is best for _my _brother."

I'm not sure why I do it, but the only thing I can think to do in the moment is smack Dean right across the face. Before he can recover from the smack, I stalk upstairs to my room and slam the door.

A couple hours later after I've showered, changed clothes, and successfully kicked two holes in the wall, I walk downstairs to the den. I walk into the room to only find Bobby. "Where's he at?" I ask him.

"Out in the yard, trying to get Cas to come down here" he says, jerking his thumb towards the window. "Nice hit earlier by the way."

"Thanks," I say sarcastically. "I'm running downstairs to check on Sam."

"I don't think that's such a good idea sweetheart," Bobby says.

"Bobby, I'm really past the point of caring what Dean thinks right now," I say. "I'm just gonna go peak my head in on him to make sure he hasn't stroked himself out or anything."

Bobby lets out a sigh as I walk out of the room and towards the basement. As I walk down the stairs, I can hear Sam talking. Getting nearer to the room, it sounds like he was having a conversation with someone.

"I tried. I did. It didn't pan out that way. Sorry, kid." I open the window in the door to see Sam sitting on the bed, looking at an unseen figure.

_Great, he's hallucinating, _I think to myself. "Look." Sam says. "They killed Jessica."

I shut the window and head towards the stairs. When I reach the top of them, the door flies open and Dean is standing on the other side. I can see that he was angry. "Spare me the lecture," I say pushing past him again. "I didn't do anything-"

"I know," he says cutting me off. He grabs my wrist and pulls me down the hallway away from the den. "Bobby told me."

"He's okay by the way," I say, still angry at Dean. "You know, your brother? The one you have locked in the basement?"

"Yeah, I know," he says. "Thank you for checking on him." I roll my eyes at him as I try to push past him but he stops me. "Rhi," he says quietly. "Please don't be mad at me."

I let out a sigh as I see the pleading in his eyes. _Darn those eyes._ "I'm sorry," I say. "I'm just worried about Sam."

"I am too," he says. "That's why I'm doing this." He looks down, trying to hide the tears that were forming in his eyes. Without a second thought, I grab one of his shoulders and pull him towards me. He buries his face in my neck, wrapping his arms around my waist. I wrap one of my arms around his shoulders, while taking the other hand and running it through his hair, resting my head on the side of his. We stay like that for a couple minutes until Dean gives my middle one little squeeze before releasing me, but still keeping his hands on my waist. "I'm sorry I let you die earlier."

I let out a little chuckle as I rest my hands on his chest. "Sorry I slapped you earlier."

He gives me a smirk as he reaches up and tucks a lock of hair behind my ear. Pulling me closer to him with the other hand, he presses his lips to my forehead. "Come on," he says onto my forehead. "Let's go talk to Bobby."

"Tease," I say as he takes a couple steps back. He gives me another smirk before pulling me towards the den. When we get to the den, Bobby gives us a look before shaking his head. I perch myself on a chair as Dean tells me and Bobby about pledging his allegiance to the angels.

"Correct me if I'm wrong, but you willingly signed up to be the angels' bitch?" Bobby says. Dean gives him a look. "I'm sorry. You prefer 'sucker'? After everything you said about them, now you trust them?"

"Come on; give me a little credit, Bobby. I've never trusted them less," Dean say. "I mean, they come on like shady politicians from planet Vulcan."

"Then why did you—" I start to say.

"Because what other option do I have?" He cuts me off. "It's either trust the angels or let Sammy trust a demon?"

"I see your point." Bobby grunts.

We sit in silence for half a minute, until we realize it is silent. "You hear that?" I say, looking and Bobby and Dean.

"Yeah, that's a little too much nothing." Bobby says. The three of us run to the basement door and down the stairs.

I squeeze past Dean and Bobby, run up to the door and throw the little window open. They come up behind and look in with me to see Sam having a seizure.

I move to open the door when Dean stops me. "What if he's faking?" he says.

"Why would he fake that?" I say. "Open the door Dean!"

"I think he'd do anything." Dean says. I turn and look in the window again. Suddenly, Sam is lifted off the ground and thrown against the wall.

"That ain't faking." Bobby says. I throw the door open as the three of us charge in. Once Sam has stopped moving Dean and Bobby grab him and pin him down to the cot.

"We're gonna have to tie him down for his own safety. Dean?" Bobby says. I look over at Dean who is just staring at Sam. "You with me? Dean!" Bobby yells again. Dean finally breaks out of whatever thoughts he was in and starts to take off his belt. "Before he has another fit."

"Yeah, yeah. Let's just get it over with." Dean says. Dean stuffs the belt in Sam's mouth for him bite down on. I run upstairs and grab four sets of handcuffs out of Bobby's desk and a stack of towels before heading back down the stairs. Once I'm in the panic room, Bobby and Dean continue to hold down Sam while I wrap towels around his wrists and ankles before fastening the handcuffs over them and then fastening them to the bed.

Sam continues to struggle against the handcuffs as we all take a step back from the cot. "You don't think he'll break through those do you?" I ask quietly.

"No, he won't," Dean says. "Come on," he says stepping back towards the door. I follow him and Bobby out of the room. I start up the stairs before I can hear them lock the door again.

"I'm gonna ask one more time," Bobby says as we walk into the den. "Are we absolutely sure we're doing the right thing?"

"Bobby, you saw what was happening to him down there." Dean says. "The demon blood is killing him."

"No, it isn't." I say crossing my arms over my chest. "We are."

"What?" Dean says, turning to look at me.

"I'm sorry, but I warned you about this." I say, pointing down towards the basement. "We're killing him. Keeping him locked up down there. This cold-turkey thing isn't working. If—if he doesn't get what he needs, soon, Sam's not gonna last much longer."

Dean shakes his head at me. "No." He says defiantly. "I'm not giving him demon blood. I won't do it."

"And if he dies?" Bobby says.

"Then at least he dies human!" Dean yells at him. "I would die for him in a second, but I won't let him do this to himself. I can't. I guess I found my line. I won't let my brother turn into a monster."

I let out a sigh as Bobby leans against the desk. "What do we do now?" I say quietly. Dean turns and looks at me.

"You two try and get some shut-eye," Bobby says. We both look at him and Dean starts to protest. "Don't bother, I know you probably haven't slept since you found human Cas. Go on," he says waving us off. "I'll let you know if anything changes."

Dean nods his head. "Alright," he says. He turns and looks at me. "Come on shorty, let's go."

"Night Bobby," I say as we leave the room. I slowly climb the stairs as Dean follows behind me. When I reach the top of the landing, I can feel the sleep deprivation catch up to me. I walk down the hallway, not even noticing Dean was following me until I reached my door. I stop outside of it, resting my hand on the door knob. "Dean," I say turning around to face him. When I turn around to face him he is staring at me with a soft look. "What are you doing?"

Without saying a word, he leans down and presses his lips to mine. I let out a sigh as I lean back against the door and start kissing him back. He reaches around me and turns the door handle, letting it swing open as he starts backing me into the room and then kicks it shut with his foot. He continues to back me up until I feel the bed on the back of my knees. When I can't go back any further, he wraps an arm around my waist and slowly lowers me onto the bed. Once I'm lying on the bed, Dean moves from my mouth and starts kissing my neck. With this break, I'm able to realize what is going on.

"Dean," I say breathlessly. He ignores me and continues kissing. "Dean," I say more forcibly. I place my hands on either side of his head and lift it to where I can look him in the eye.

"What?" he grumbles.

"What are we doing?" I ask.

He gives me an _are-you-kidding-me _look. "What does it look like?" he says.

"I know that," I say rolling my eyes. "I just…"

"What?" Dean says innocently. "Do you not want to?"

I let out a sigh as I reach up and push his hair up away from his forehead. "I do," I say. "I just- there's just so much going on and I just have so much on my mind."

Dean looks down at me and lets out a sigh. "Then let's get it off our minds for a little while." He leans down and starts kissing me again. But this time I don't stop him.

Later on, I'm lying in bed with Dean, my head resting on his chest. "So, shorty," he says. I turn my eyes up towards him and see him wrapping one of my curls around his finger. When he notices that I'm looking, he drops the curl. "You're supposed to tell me what happened back at that gas station."

I let out a sigh as I prop myself on one of my elbows. "I don't really know," I say, running my finger over the handprint on his broad shoulder. "This wind just came over me and I felt weak."

"That's it?" Dean asks. "I knew you were tiny but a little gust of wind made you weak?"

I roll my eyes at him. "That wasn't just it," I say. "I don't know. I just- there was this scent in it that was so familiar." I let out a sigh as I turn around and sit up. Pulling my knees up to my chest, I prop my elbows on them. I feel the bed move as Dean sits up behind me. "Ever since I saw that little girl in the drug store there's just been these little things I've seen that remind me of my grandmother."

"Like her ghost?" Dean asks. I could practically hear the hunter gears in his mind churning.

"No, not like her ghost," I say shaking my head. "Just-I don't know. Maybe I'm just looking for them since I'm looking for an answer to what I'm supposed to be."

I let out another sigh as I feel Dean press his lips against my bare shoulder. "We'll figure it out," he says.

I turn my head and give him a small smile. "You have enough to worry about," I say. I lean towards him and plant a soft kiss on his lips. When I pull away, he rests his forehead against mine. "Come on," I say. "We should head down and check on Bobby and Sam."

Dean nods his head as we both climb out of bed and get dressed. As I'm pulling my favorite deep purple shirt over my head, I feel Dean's eyes on me. "What?" I say, placing one of my hands on my hips.

"Nothing," Dean says, giving me a smirk. "Just enjoying the view. Never thought I'd actually enjoy watching a girl put her clothes _on_."

I roll my eyes as I walk over to him. "Thanks, I think," I say. He gives me that patented Dean-Winchester smile before we both walk out the door and down the stairs. When we get down to the den, Bobby is nowhere to be seen. "Bobby?" I yell out. There's no answer.

"Where the hell is that old drunk?" Dean says. As if he heard him, Bobby comes stumbling in the den, holding his head in his hand. "You okay?"

"Hell no I'm not okay," Bobby says. "Sam busted out and took off." I follow Dean as he races down to the basement.

"How the hell did he get out?" Dean says when we step in the empty panic room.

"Maybe he had help." Bobby says, looking around the room. "Room full of busted devil's traps."

"Demons?" Dean wonders, then a sure-look crosses his face. "Ruby."

"That'd be my guess." Bobby says with a shrug.

"How did she even touch the door?" I ask. Sam, and mainly Dean, had told me about Ruby.

"You think she's got the mojo?" Bobby asks.

"I didn't think so." Dean says. He looks around the room and throws his hands in the air in defeat. "I don't know, man."

"What difference does it make? How he got gone ain't as important as where he got gone to." Bobby says.

"Well, I'll tell you one thing." Dean says as we start to leave the room. "At this point I hope he's with Ruby."

"Why?" I ask.

"'Cause killing her's the next big item on my to-do list."

"I thought you were on call for angel duty." Bobby asks.

"I am on call." Dean says as we reach the den. "In my car, on my way to murder the bitch."

"One thing." Bobby says.

"What?" Deans says.

"Sam don't wanna be found," Bobby says. "Which means he's gonna be damn near impossible to find."

"Yeah, we'll see." Dean says. "I'm gonna go out and work on my car." Without another word, he walks out of the house.

"Is it really gonna be impossible to find him?" I ask Bobby.

"Pretty much," he says, raising both his eyebrows.

"Great," I say. Without anything else to do, I walk into the kitchen to make up some food. After I've provided Bobby with a plate of food, I walk outside and bring Dean one. "Here ya go," I say, holding the food out to him. He gives me a smile as he takes the sandwich and chips from me. Once he's done eating, he starts working on the car again while having me had him tools.

"Police found my car." I hear Bobby say. I turn around and see him walking towards us. "Abandoned in an alley in Jamestown, North Dakota."

"He's switching up." Dean says, tapping a wrench to his palm. "Any other cars stolen in Jamestown?"

"Two. 1999 Honda Civic, blue." Bobby says, looking at a piece of paper. "Nice and anonymous, like Sam likes."

"What was the other one?" Dean asks.

"White '05 Escalade with custom rims." Bobby says, shaking his head. "It's a neon sign."

"You're right. He'd never take that." Dean nods his head. "Which is exactly what he did."

"You think so?" I ask.

"I know that kid." Dean says. He slams the hood of the car before turning to me and Bobby. "All right, I'll head in that direction. You stay here, ride the police databases. We gotta find him quick."

"I'm coming with you," I say stubbornly.

"Of course you are," he says. We tell Bobby bye before we both climb into the car and drive away.

The car ride is mostly silent and I end up falling asleep a few times. A few hours down the road Dean's phone rings. He answers it and puts it on speaker.

"Cops found the Escalade in a ditch outside Elk River," Bobby says on the other end.

"How far away are we?" Dean asks.

"A couple of hours. I pulled up a weather map, made some calls." Bobby says. "There's a town not far from there, Cold Spring. Lighting up with demon signs."

"A good place to look." Dean states.

"Hey, listen." Bobby says.

Dean lets out a groan. "What?"

"Us finding Sam?" Bobby says. "It's gotta be about getting him back, not pushing him away."

"Right." Dean says skeptically.

"I know you're mad, Dean. I understand." Bobby says. "You got a right to be, but I'm just saying. Be good to him anyway. You gotta get through to him."

Dean hangs up the phone without saying anything and throws it into the backseat. "Don't say a word," Dean says, holding up a finger to me.

I hold my hands up in defense. "Wasn't going to," I say. He looks over at me and gives a _yeah-right _look. We ride the rest of the way in silence until we pull up to a motel.

I move to start getting out of the car when Dean grabs my wrist. "Rhi, wait," he says. I turn to look back at him when I suddenly feel cool metal pressing against my wrist. Suddenly, I'm being jerked towards Dean. I look down to see he's handcuffed me to the steering wheel.

"Dean!" I say pulling against the restraint. "What are you doing?"

"This is between me and my brother," he says. "I don't want you getting in the middle of it."

"You don't have to friggin handcuff me to the dagum-" I say pulling at the handcuff.

"Damn it Rhi will you not argue with me just this once!" he roars. I stop pulling at the handcuff as he gives me one last look before getting out of the car and locking the door behind him. I sit back in defeat as I watch him walk into the front door.

Once he's out of site, I reach down into my purse on the floorboard and dig out a rogue bobby pin. "God I hope this works," I mutter to myself. I peel the little plastic end off of it with my teeth before straightening it out and sticking it into the key hole on the handcuffs. I move the bobby pin around, trying to unlock them, when I see a dark haired girl dressed in all black walk out of the hotel. As if she can tell I'm watching, she stops mid-run and looks at me. We lock eyes for a split second before she continues on and climbs into another vehicle. I continue to work on the handcuffs until I finally hear the lock click.

I slide over to the passenger door and unlock it before running into the hotel. "Make a left, last door at the end of the hall," the guy at the desk says without even asking me. I stop mid-run and look at him curiously. "Hot dark haired chick told me to tell you."

"Thanks," I say. I run down the hall towards the door. As I near it, I hear a loud crash on the other side. When I open the door, I see a bloodied Sam and Dean on the ground, with Sam choking Dean. "Sam! Stop!" I yell at him. He stops and looks up at me.

The look he gives me send shivers down my spine. He gets off of Dean and walks over to me. I back up against the wall next to the door as Sam walks up to me and looks me up and down, as if he was sizing me up. He seems to decide against whatever he was thinking of and reaches for the door handle.

"You walk out that door," Dean says. Sam turns around and looks at him. "Don't you ever come back."

Sam gives him one last look before he walks out the door and shuts it behind him. Once the door is shut, I run over to Dean and kneel down beside him, broken glass poking my knees. "Dean," I say to him. "Are you okay?"

He shuts his eyes as he clutches at his chest and rolls over onto his stomach. "Dammit," I hear him mutter as he beats at the ground with his fist. I watch as a sob rolls through his body.

A tear falls down my face as I rub soothing circle onto Dean's back. "I'm sorry Dean."

**A/N: Y'all are in luck that I got Netflix and am able to watch Supernatural on demand! Ha! I've been so inspired to write because of it! And ****Dalonega Noquisi****, I'm sorry but that theory is wrong ;) Review, review, review!**

**P.s. sorry I suck at writing smut :(**


	15. Chapter 15

Eventually, Dean pushed himself off the floor. I took one of his arms and draped it over my shoulders, letting him rest some of his weight on me. I wasn't entirely convinced he should be driving because he looked pretty banged up, but when we reached the Impala he climbed in the driver's seat. After taking the handcuffs off the steering wheel, he pulled the car out of the parking lot and pointed the car towards Bobby's.

About halfway there, Dean pulls over at a gas station. I tell him to stay there and I'd fill up. He nods his head without complaint. After I've filled up the car, I go inside and pay also buying a first aid kit. In the car, I make Dean turn to face me so I can clean up the cuts on his face. The whole time I'm working, even though he has one of his hands resting on my knee, he stares off into space the whole time, no doubt thinking about Sam.

When we start driving again, the silence filling the car causes me to fall asleep. After some uneasy sleep, Dean shakes me awake when we arrive at Bobby's. When we get inside, Bobby can tell something is wrong. He pours us all a drink while we sit in the den, all lost in our own thoughts.

"Dean," Bobby says. "You should call Sam." When Dean doesn't answer, I look over and see him staring out the window. "Dean? Dean! You listen to a word I said?"

"Yeah, I heard you." Dean says, turning around and taking another drink. "I'm not calling him."

"Don't make me get my gun, boy." Bobby growls at him.

"We are damn near kickoff for Armageddon," Dean says, finally showing some sort of emotion. "Don't you think we got bigger fish at the moment?"

"I know you're pissed." Bobby says. "And I'm not making apologies for what he's done, but he's your—"

"Blood?" Dean says, cutting him off. "He's my blood, is that what you were gonna say?"

"He's your brother." Bobby yells at Dean. "And he's drowning."

"Bobby, I tried to help him, I did. Look what happened." Dean waves a hand down his body, motioning to the cuts and bruises.

"So try again." Bobby says.

Dean shakes his head. "It's too late."

"There's no such thing." Bobby says.

"No, damnit! No. I gotta face the facts." Dean yells. "Sam never wanted part of this family. He hated this life growing up. Ran away to Stanford first chance he got. Now it's like déjà vu all over again." He turns around and sits down in a chair. "Well, I am sick and tired of chasing him. Screw him, he can do what he wants."

"You don't mean that," I say to him quietly.

"Yes I do, Rhi. Sam's gone. He's gone." He says with finality. "I'm not even sure if he's still my brother anymore. If he ever was."

I turn around look to Bobby for some help, I didn't like Dean talking like this. I see Bobby leaning on the desk, his shoulders moving up and down with heavy angry fumes. After a moment he makes a big angry sweep with his hands, tossing books and papers to the ground. He turns around and charges towards Dean, who stands quickly, knocking over the chair he was sitting in.

"You stupid, stupid son of a bitch!" Bobby yells, spit flying from his mouth. "Well, boo hoo, I am so sorry your feelings are hurt, princess! Are you under the impression that family's supposed to make you feel good?! Make you an apple pie, maybe? They're supposed to make you miserable! That's why they're family!"

"I told him, "you walk out that door, don't come back" and he walked out anyway!" Dean says, pointing at the ground. "That was his choice!"

"You sound like a whiny brat. No, you sound like your dad." Bobby says. Dean looks at him like he was just slapped. "Well, let me tell you something. Your dad was a coward."

"My dad was a lot of things, Bobby, but a coward?"

"He'd rather push Sam away than reach out to him. Well, that don't strike me as brave." Bobby growls. "You are a better man than your daddy ever was. So you do all of us a favor. Don't be him."

Dean shakes his head and turns back to staring out the window. I walk up to him to try and say something to him. When I place my hand on his shoulder, I feel this weird pull in my stomach. I look away from Dean and see we're no longer in Bobby's house. We both turn around to see we're in a large, lavish room with white walls trimmed in gold. There is a marble table in the middle of the room and on the other side of it is Castiel.

Before either of us can say anything, Castiel speaks up. "Hello, Dean, Rhiannon. It's almost time."

"Time for what?" Dean says. Instead of answering, Castiel disappears. Dean looks down at me as I shrug my shoulders. We both venture further into the room poking around at things, making sure they were real.

After picking up a vase, I turn around to see stuff has appeared on the table. "Dean, look at this," I say. He turns around and takes in the beer, hamburgers, and fried chicken on the table. He walks over and picks up one of the beers, looking at the label.

"Hello, Dean. You're looking fit." We both turn around to see a white haired name, that I guess is Zachariah, and Castiel standing behind him. He turns to look at me. "You too Rhiannon, beautiful as ever."

Dean sets the beer bottle back down in the bucket of ice. "Well, how 'bout this? 'The suite life of Zach and Cas.'" They both stare at him blankly, not getting the joke. "It's a... never mind. So, what is this? Where the hell are we?"

"Call it a Green room. We're closing in on the grand finale, here. We want to keep you safe before show time." Zachariah says. He sweeps his hand out, motioning towards the food on the table. "Try a burger. They're your favorite. From that seaside shack in Delaware. You were 11, I think. And Rhiannon, we got some of that fried chicken from that gas station you always stopped at on your way home from school."

"I'm not hungry." I tell him.

"No? How about I get you two a nice big bed? Huh?" Zachariah offers.

My mouth drops open in shock as Dean gives a little smirk. "Tempting. Weird."

"We'll throw in Channing Tatum for free." Zachariah says to me.

"No, no. Let's... bail on the holodeck, okay?" Dean says quickly. "I want to know what the game plan is."

"Let us worry about that." Zachariah says waving Dean off. "We want you... focused, relaxed."

"Well, I'm about to be pissed and leaving, so start talking, Chuckles." Dean says getting frustrated.

Zachariah lets out a sigh. "All the seals have fallen. Except one."

"That's an impressive score." Dean says sarcastically. "That's... that's right up there with the Washington Generals."

"You think sarcasm's appropriate, do you? Considering... you started all this?" Dean recoils a little bit at Zachariah's words. "But the final seal... it'll be different."

"Why?" I ask.

"Lilith has to break it." Zachariah says. "She's the only one who can. Tomorrow night - midnight."

"Where?"

"We're working on it." Zachariah gives us a smile like that information should be enough for us.

"Well, work harder." Dean growls.

"We'll do our job. You just make sure you do yours." Zachariah says.

"Yeah, and what is that, exactly?" Dean says. I could tell he was growing extremely frustrated with the angel. I look back at Cas who gives me a blank look. "If I'm supposed to be the one that stops her, how? With the knife?"

"All in good time." Zachariah says, still calm.

"Isn't now a good time?" I ask.

Zachariah was still talking calmly to us. "Have faith."

"What, in you?" Dean says skeptically. "Give me one good reason why I should?"

Zachariah steps forward and gets in Deans face. "Because you swore your obedience. So obey."

Dean looks past him at Castiel, who looks down guiltily. Without another word, the two angels disappear. I look over at Dean who has his head hung. "Dean," I say quietly. He looks up at me. "What do we do now?" Up until this point with the boys, I felt I had done a pretty good job of keeping my fear in check and hidden. Now, totally alone with Dean in this room, I let the fear creep onto my face.

Instead of answering me, he grabs me around the shoulders and pulls me to him. I bury my face in his chest as I feel him kiss the top of my head. We stay like that for a few minutes until I feel like I can stand on my own. Taking a step back, I sink down into one of the nearby chairs as I watch Dean start to pace.

I watch him as he paces around the room. At one point, he pulls out his phone and stares at it. "Ah, screw it." He mumbles. He opens the phone and dials a number. Pressing the phone to his ear, he waits a few seconds and then starts talking again.

"Hey, it's me. Uh..." He clears his throat before continuing. "Look, I'll just get right to it. I'm still pissed... and I owe you a serious beat down. But... I shouldn't have said what I said. You know, I'm not Dad. We're brothers. You know, we're family. And, uh... no matter how bad it gets, that doesn't change. Sammy, I'm sorry." He shuts the phone before stuffing it back in his pocket.

"Sam?" I ask quietly. He looks at me and nods his head. Feeling a chill in the room, I start to rub my arms to warm up, silently cursing myself for not having a jacket.

"You cold?" I hear Dean grunt. I look up and see him looking at me. I nod my head slowly at him. He walks over to me and shrugs out of his jacket before handing it to me. I tell him thank you as I put the jacket on and let out a sigh as Dean starts to pace again.

I watch Dean, taking in his every movement, trying to stay calm. He walks up to a figurine and stares at it before poking it, causing it to fall over crashing to the ground. As it hits the ground, Castiel appears behind him.

"You asked to see me?" Castiel says.

Dean clears his throat before talking. "Yeah, listen, I, uh, I-I need something."

"Anything you wish." Castiel tells him.

"I need you to take me to see Sam." Dean says.

Castiel gives him a hard look. "Why?"

"There's something I got to talk to him about." Dean says simply.

"What's that?"

Dean rolls his eyes a little. "The B.M. I took this morning." He says sarcastically. "What's it to you? Just make it snappy."

"I don't think that's wise." Castiel gives him a blank look.

"Well, I didn't ask you for your opinion." Dean says.

"Have you forgotten what happened the last time you met?" I couldn't believe Cas brought that up.

"No. That's the whole point. Listen," Dean takes a couple steps towards Castiel. "I'm gonna do whatever you mooks want, okay? I just need to tie up this one thing. Five minutes - that's all I need."

"No." Cas says with finality.

"What do you mean, no?" Deans says, a frustrated, confused look on his face. "Are you saying that I'm trapped here?"

"You can go wherever you want." Castiel says.

"Super. I want to go see Sam." Dean tells him.

"Except there."

"I want to take a walk."

"Fine. I'll go with you."

"Alone."

"No."

I watch as they banter back and forth until Dean finally throws his hands in the air. "You know what? Screw this noise. I'm out of here." He pushes past Cas and walks to me, grabs me around the wrist and pulls me behind him towards the door.

"Through what door?" Castiel says. Dean turns around to face him for a second. When he turns back to the door, the door is gone. He turns back around to yell at Cas but Cas is gone.

"Damn it." He growls. He releases my wrist before pounding on the wall twice. I take a couple steps back from him and watch him as he grabs a pedestal off a nearby table and start to beat the wall with it.

Seconds after he has a hole busted through it, the wall is smooth again like it was never touched. "Son of a bitch." He growls as he tosses the pedestal to the ground.

Suddenly, I hear a fluttering of wings and turn to see Zachariah standing there. "Quit hurling feces like a howler monkey, would you? It's unbecoming."

"Let me out of here." Dean turns around to face him, anger pulsating through him.

"Like I told you: too dangerous out there." Zachariah says, still calm. "Demons on the prowl."

"I've been getting my ass kicked all year. Now you're sweating my safety?" Dean accuses. "You're lying. I want to see my brother."

"That's... ill-advised." Zachariah says, bobbing his head like he was thinking about it.

"You know, I am so sick of your crap riddles and your smug, fat face." Dean halfway yells. "What the hell is going on, huh? Why can't I see Sam? And how am I gonna ice Lilith?"

Zachariah lets out a sigh. "You're not. ...Going to ice Lilith."

"What?" Dean says, his face falling a little.

"Lilith's going to break the final seal." Zachariah says, pacing a little. "Fait accompli at this point. Train's left the station."

"But me and Sam, we can stop..." Dean says, he trails off and looks over at me as we realize the same thing.

"You don't want to stop it, do you?" I say, finishing Deans thought.

"Nope. Never did. The end is nigh." Zachariah says smugly. "The apocalypse is coming, kiddo, to a theater near you."

"What was all that crap about saving seals?" Dean growls.

"Our grunts on the ground - we couldn't just tell them the whole truth. We'd have a full-scale rebellion on our hands. I mean, think about it." Zachariah stops pacing to look at us again. "Would we really let 65 seals get broken unless senior management wanted it that way?"

"But why?" I ask him.

"Why not?" He shrugs his shoulders like it should be obvious. "The apocalypse? Poor name, bad marketing - puts people off. When all it is is Ali/Foreman. On a... slightly larger scale. And we like our chances. When our side wins - and we will - it's paradise on earth. Now, what's not to like about that?"

"What happens to all the people during your little pissing contest?" Dean asks.

"Well... you can't make an omelet without cracking a few eggs. In this case... truckloads of eggs, but you get the picture. Look... it happens. This isn't the first planetary enema we've delivered." He looks at Dean who is eyeing a statue on the mantle above the fireplace. "Uh, no, Dean. Probably shouldn't try to bash my skull in with that thing. Wouldn't end up too pleasant for you."

"What about Sam?" Dean says. I look over at him and see him growing angrier by the second. "He won't go quietly. He'll stop Lilith."

Zachariah takes a deep breath before answering. "Sam... has a part to play. A very important part. He may need a little nudging in the right direction, but I'll make sure he plays it."

"What does that mean? What are you gonna do to him?" Dean demands.

The angel rolls his eyes at Dean. "Sam, Sam, Sam. Marcia, Marcia, Marcia. Forget about him, would you? You have larger concerns. Why do you think I'm confiding in you? You're still vital, Dean. We weren't lying about your destiny. Just... omitted a few pertinent details. But nothing's changed. You are chosen. You will stop it. Just... not Lilith, or the apocalypse. That's all."

"Which means?" Dean prods.

Zachariah gestures up to a large painting hanging on the wall. We all look up at it and I recognize it as a picture of the Archangel Michael. "Lucifer. You're going to stop Lucifer. You're our own little Russell Crowe, complete with surly attitude. And when it's over... and when you've won... your rewards will be... unimaginable. Peace, happiness... two virgins and seventy sluts." Zachariah lets out a chuckle as he slaps Dean on the back. "Trust me - one day, we'll look back on this and laugh."

"Tell me something." Dean says. "Where's God in all this?"

"God?" Zachariah says. He gives Dean a look like the answer should be obvious. "God has left the building."

"That's not possible," I say quietly. Zachariah looks at me in shock, as if he had forgot I was there.

"Well of course it is," he says. "You of all people should know that."

"What is that supposed to mean?" I really didn't like this guy.

"Look at you," he says waving his hand towards me. "You're a walking force of impossibility."

"What? Because I got shot in the chest?" I say, arching an eyebrow at him. I vaguely notice out of the corner of my eye Dean taking a step closer to me.

Zachariah rolls his eyes. "That was just a minor hiccup," he says. "The grunt demons must not have been informed of who you are or else you would've never been shot."

"Then who the hell am I?" I shout at him. "I'm so sick of being dragged around and seeing things and thinking I'm going crazy and no one knows what I am!"

The angel continues to look at me calmly, like I hadn't just shouted at him. "Well, I know what you are," he says calmly. "One of the perks of being a higher-up."

I start to charge towards him to beat the crap out of him until Dean grabs ahold of me and holds me back. "So help me you better tell me or I'll…"

Zachariah lets out a laugh like I was the most amusing thing in the world. "Dean, let her go," he says. I feel Dean's arm unwind from me, but he still keeps a hand on my hip. Taking a step towards me he bores his eyes into mine. "Fine, you want to know what you are, I'll show you."

Before I can say anything, he touches a finger to my forehead, causing everything to go black and familiar sensation of being teleported. When I open my eyes again I see that I'm standing in a baby's nursery. "Where am I?" I ask. Before Zachariah can answer I spot a poster on the wall that reads: _Rhiannon Maria Opole. Born March 13, 1982. _"This is my room?" I ask quietly.

I walk over to the crib and look inside it. Inside, I see a little baby girl with a shock of thick, curly brown hair fast asleep. I feel a pair of hands wrap around my shoulders before they pull me back. "Don't touch her," Zachariah says. "You wouldn't like the consequences of that."

"That's me?" I ask, pointing to the crib.

"Ding-ding-ding," he says. "We have a winner."

"Why am I here?" I demand.

"Just watch," he says pointing back to the crib. I follow his finger as I look back to the crib. For a couple seconds, nothing happens. Suddenly, a bright light comes crashing through the window and lands in the crib. The baby-me in the crib starts crying as the light shines brighter and brighter until it finally disappears. As it disappears, the crying ceases. Before I can even say anything, everything goes black again and I'm back in the green room with Dean.

"What was that!?" I yell at Zachariah.

"That was part of an angel's grace going into your body," he says simply. I really couldn't stand this guy's attitude of everyone should know exactly what he was talking about.

"What?" Dean says. I jump at the sound of his voice, having forgotten he was even there.

"I'm part angel?" I screech.

"Not exactly," Zachariah says shaking his head. I start to ask him more question until he cuts me off. "Look, I would love to stand here and explain all the gory details to you, but I have an apocalypse to start." He disappears.

I stand there, breathing heavy, staring at the spot where he was just standing. I don't even notice I'm shaking until Dean comes and stands in front of me, resting his hands on my shoulders. "What did he show you?"

Before I can answer him, Castiel appears behind him. Dean spins around to face him as Cas presses a finger to his lips, telling us to stay quiet. He walks over to Dean and grabs the demon knife away from him before pressing it to his forearm. Blood starts oozing from the cut as Castiel rubs his other hand over and then starts to draw some sort of markings on the wall.

Suddenly, Zachariah appears and starts charging towards us. "Castiel! Would you mind explaining just what the hell you're doing?"

Castiel finishes drawing and slams his hand in the center of the sigil. I throw my arm over my eyes as a flash of white light appears, causing Zachariah to vanish.

"He won't be gone long." Castiel says. "We have to find Sam now."

"Where is he?" Dean asks.

"I don't know." Castiel says. "But I know who does. We have to stop him, Dean, from killing Lilith."

"But Lilith's gonna break the final seal." I say.

"Lilith is the final seal." Castiel states. "She dies, the end begins."

Castiel reaches out and places his palms on both me and Dean's forehead. The familiar pulling sensation appears and then disappears as we land in a house. I look around to see a bedraggled looking man on the phone.

The man looks at us in shock. "Wait. T-t-this isn't supposed to happen." He jumps as someone says something on the other end of the phone. "No, lady, this is definitely supposed to happen, but I just got to call you back." He hangs up the phone as he looks at the three of us.

"Where is Sam?" Dean growls at him. I make a guess that this is the prophet Chuck.

"I- um- St. Mary's," he says. "Ilchester, Maryland."

"St. Mary's? What is that, a convent?" Dean asks.

"Yeah, but you guys aren't supposed to be there. You're not in this story." Chuck says. He glances over at me and does a double take, noticing I was standing there. "You definitely can't be there."

"Yeah, well..." Castiel says, cutting me off from asking Chuck what he meant. "We're making it up as we go."

Suddenly, a nearby computer screen starts to flicker, followed by the whole house starting to shake and a white light shining in through the windows.

"Aw, man! Not again! No!" Chuck says.

"It's the Archangel!" Castiel yells over the noise. He turns to me and Dean. "I'll hold him off! I'll hold them all off! Dean, you have to stop Sam! Rhiannon, I'll send you somewhere safe!"

Before either of us could protest being separated, Castiel claps us both on the forehead. Once the pulling sensation stops, I look up to see myself on a deserted street. I look around and see a motel, which I guess is where Cas wanted me to go.

"Excuse me," I say walking up to the front desk of the hotel. This is going to sound really dumb but, where am I?"

The guy at the desk gives me a suspicious look. "Pike Creek, Delaware," he says. "Do you need a room?"

"Um, actually," I don't have any money. Just then, I realize I'm still wearing Dean's jacket. I dig around in the pockets and find his wallet. I pull it out and find a couple credit cards in it. "Yes, I do, one with two single beds."

I hand the guy one of the credit cards. "Alright Mrs. Hasslehoff," he says. "Is this your husband's card?"

"Yes," I say. "Him and his brother will be here within a day or two."

"Okay," the guy says. He taps around on a computer before handing me the card and two sets of keys.

I thank him as I turn to my left and make my way down a hallway. Once I'm in the room, I flip on a light and sit down on the edge of the bed. Before I can realize they've even started, I feel sobs starting to roll through my body. I lie back on the bed and curl myself into Dean's jacket, wondering if I'll ever even see him again.


	16. Chapter 16

"_Crap," _I mutter to myself. I quickly shut the water off in the shower before grabbing a towel and crudely wrapping it around myself. Slipping and sliding my way out to the beds, I dig around in Dean's jacket pocket until I find the ringing phone. "Hello? Hello?" I say after hitting the answer button. I press the phone to my ear. "Dean is that you?"

"Yeah, it's me," I hear him grunt.

"Oh thank God," I say, sinking down on the bed. After I realize what I said, I let out a chuckle. "Well you know what I mean. Where are you? Is Sam with you? Did you stop him? What about-"

"Woah, woah, woah, shorty, slow your roll," he says cutting me off. I let out a sigh. "Yes, Sam is with me. We're just leaving Chuck's. Where are you at?"

"Umm, Pike Creek, Delaware," I say. I reach over and grab the stationary off the nightstand and read the name of the hotel. "Regent Inn Motel."

"Alright," Dean says. "We'll head that way and be there by morning."

"Okay," I say. "Room 354."

"Good," he grunts. "You still got my jacket?"

"Obviously I do if I'm answering your phone," I say. I instinctively reach out and touch it. "I found your wallet in the pocket and one of the credit cards. So hurry up and get your butt here Mr. Hasslehoff."

Dean lets out a single chuckle. "Sure thing," he says. "You know the drill, stay in the room, no ordering out for pizza, don't answer the door for anyone but us."

"Yes sir," I say. "Be careful driving here."

"Always am," he says. Without saying another word, he ends the call. I hold the phone to my ear for a couple more seconds before folding it shut. I stand up with a sigh and walk back to the bathroom to finish my shower.

Without anything else to do, I crawl under the blankets and try to fall asleep. Instead of sleeping, the image Zachariah showed me kept running through my mind. I sit up in the bed and run a hand through my hair. "Cas?" I say out loud. "Cas are you there?" I wait a few minutes and am met with silence. I let out a sigh before falling back onto the bed. "Those boys better hurry up," I mutter to the ceiling. Eventually I fall into a restless sleep until a pounding on the door wakes me up. I jump in the bed before falling out of it, then stumble over to the door after knocking my hip on the table and hitting my shin on a chair. When I finally get over to the door, I undo all the locks and throw it open.

"What the hell shorty?" Dean says. I look up at him as he looks me up and down, taking in my tank top and boxer shorts I had been sleeping in. "Nice pj's," he says with a smirk. Him and Sam walk past me and shut the door.

"Dean? Sam?" I say, a little disoriented from stumbling through the room.

"Yeah, in the flesh," Dean says holding his arms out. Without a warning, I reach up and smack them both on the sides of the head.

"What in tarnations is the matter with y'all?" I yell at them. I grab a folded up newspaper off the dining table and start hitting them with it. "Waitin a day and half before callin me to tell me whether you were dead or alive and then bangin on the dagum door at the devil's hour wakin me up when I was finally asleep-"

Finally Dean grabs the newspaper away from me. "What's the matter with _us_?" he says holding up the newspaper. "What's the matter with you?"

I take a couple deep breaths before breaking the stare down with him. "I was worried about you stupid jerks," I finally say. I take a couple steps towards them and throw my arms around Sam's neck and give him a hug. After he releases me, I step over to Dean and throw my arms around his neck as he picks me up in a crushing hug. We finally break about when Sam clears his throat. "Sorry," I say taking a step back. "So uh, tell me everything that happened."

"Well," Dean says, looking over at Sam and then back at me. "Lucifer is walking the earth."

"Crap."

"Wow," I say, staring wide eyed at the floor. Dean and Sam had just told me everything that had happened.

"That's all you have to say," Dean says. "Is 'wow'?"

"What?" I say turning to him. "Would you rather I cuss Sam out? Or hit you upside the head again with the newspaper?"

"So, you're not…mad at me for freeing Lucifer?" Sam says nervously.

I look over at him and take a deep breath. "I'm mad that he got out," I say slowly, calculating my words. "But I'm not mad at you for it."

Sam lets out a breath he had been holding and gives me a half smile. "Well," Dean says. "Now that you two are all chummy again," he turns to me and holds my stare. "I wanna know what Zachariah showed you and what you meant by 'half-angel'."

I let out a sigh as I tell them every detail of what Zachariah showed me. "So…you're part angel?" Sam asks.

"I don't think so," I say shaking my head. "I mean, I died. As in heart stopped, went up to heaven, stone cold-"

"Alright, alright, alright," Dean says holding up a hand to cut me off. "We got it. But he said that part of an angel's grace went into you. What part?'

I shrug my shoulders. "I don't know," I say. "I thought Cas might know but he isn't answering me."

"Cas is dead," Dean says. "Archangels smoked him."

"Well," I say moving to sit on the edge of the bed. "This day just keeps getting better and better."

We all sit in silence for a few minutes until Sam speaks up. "I think I'm gonna run and get some food," he says.

I mutter a thanks to him before he walks out the door. After the door clicks, Dean sits down on the bed bedside me. "So," he says. "Are you really not mad at him?"

"Oh, I'm livid," I say. I look up at the door that Sam had just walked out of. "But, it's Sam. I know I haven't known him as long as you, but he always honestly believes he's doing the right thing. He's like Dobby, he doesn't realize how much he hurts by helping."

Dean shakes his head as he places a hand on my thigh. "Like I said," he says. He reaches over with the other hand and places it under my chin, turning my head towards him. "Heart of freakin gold." A smile creeps onto my face as he lowers his lips down to mine. My arms wind up around his shoulders as he moves his hands to my waist. As the kiss deepens, he lowers me down on the bed.

"I wonder what's taking Sam so long," I hear Dean say. I turn around in time to see him pulling his shirt down over his stomach.

With my shirt half-buttoned, I put my hands on my hips as I cock one out. "Please not do tell me you were thinking about that the whole time."

He rolls his eyes at me as he walks over to me. "Obviously not," he says. He reaches up and starts to button the rest of the buttons on my shirt. "But, a food run shouldn't take this long."

"You've got a point," I say. I let out a sigh as he leans down and gives me a quick kiss before returning to the bed to pull his boots on. "Oh, here," I say. I walk over to the table and grab Dean's jacket off the back of one of the chairs. "Thank you for letting me use it," I say handing it back to him. "And for letting me use the credit cards to go get some clothes."

He lets out a chuckle as he takes the jacket. "No problem shorty," he says. He stands up and lets out a sigh as he looks at me. "Hey, I don't want you to worry about that angel grace crap," I look up at him and raise an eyebrow. "Well, you can worry about it, but we will figure it out, okay?"

I give him a smile as I hear the doorknob turn. I take a step back from Dean as it opens to reveal Sam carrying two bags. "Bout time you got back," I say.

He gives me a smirk as he sits the bags down on the table. He digs around in his pockets before pulling out three little bags and tossing one to me and Dean. "Here. Hex bags. No way the angels will find us with those. Demons, either, for that matter."

"Where'd you get it?" Dean says.

"I made it." Sam says with a shrug.

"How?" Dean says studying the bag.

Sam hesitates before answering. "I...I learned it from Ruby."

Dean nods his head a couple times before sticking the hex bag in his pocket. "Speaking of. How you doing? Are you jonesing for another hit of bitch blood or what?"

"I-it's weird. Uh, tell you the truth, I'm fine." Sam says. I look at him, studying him to see if he's lying. "No shakes, no fever. It's like whoever...put me on that plane cleaned me right up."

"Supernatural methadone," I say with a snort.

"Yeah, I guess." Sam pauses before turning his attention back to his brother. "Dean—"

"Sam." Dean cuts him off with a shake of his head. He turns away from both of us and faces a window. "It's okay. You don't have to say anything."

"Well, that's good. Because what can I even say? "I'm sorry"? "I screwed up"?" Sam says. "Doesn't really do it justice, you know? Look, there's nothing I can do or say that will ever make this right-"

"So why do you keep bringing it up?!" Dean roars. He turns back to look at Sam. "Look, all I'm saying is, why do we have to put this under a microscope? We made a mess. We clean it up. That's it." Sam looks at his brother and nods his head. "All right, so, say this is just any other hunt. You know? What do we do first?"

"We'd, uh, figure out where the thing is." Sam says.

"All right. So we just got to find...the devil." Dean says with a sarcastic grin. He claps his hands together and rubs them together. "So, let's get Bobby on the horn and get his butt out here."

After Dean calls Bobby, we sit down to eat the food Sam had brought. Once we are done eating, Sam pulls out their dad's journal and starts flipping through it while Dean turns on the tv to watch the news. All over the stations everyone was talking about different freak acts of nature and how no one could explain it.

I lean my head back against the foot of the bed where I was sitting on the floor. It may have looked strange, me sitting on the floor while there was an empty spot on the bed next to Dean, but I preferred sitting on the floor. I feel the bed moving and then see Dean's feet beside me.

"What are you doing down there?" he asks me.

"Watching the news," I say with a shrug. "And wishin I knew more about this angel grace in me."

"You're going to drive yourself crazy until you figure this out, aren't you?" he says.

I look up at him looking down at me and give him a smile. "Pretty much." He shakes his head at me as he shuts the tv off. A few seconds later there is a knock on the door. We all look at each other before Sam stands up and walks over to the door. Dean reaches over and grabs his handgun as I move to sit up on the bed next to him.

Sam opens the door to reveal a tiny girl standing on the other side with a huge smile on her face and breathing heavily. "You okay, lady?" Sam asks her.

"Sam...is it really you?" she asks excitedly. Sam glances back at me and Dean as the woman steps closer to Sam and puts her hand on his chest. "And you're so firm."

"Uh, do I know you?" Sam says.

She pulls her hand off his chest while Sam continues to stare at her in confusion. "No. But I know you. You're Sam Winchester. And you're—" She pokes her head around Sam and looks at me and Dean, who moves the gun to hide it between me and him. "—not what I pictured and I have no clue who you are. I'm Becky." She pushes past Sam and walks into the room as Sam shuts the door. "I read all about you guys. And I've even written a few—" She glances down and giggles a little bit. "Anyway, Mr. Edlund told me where you were."

Dean stands up and takes a couple steps towards her. "Chuck?"

"He's got a message, but he's being watched. Angels. Nice change-up to the mythology, by the way." Becky says. "The demon stuff was getting kind of old."

Dean looks at Sam and gives him a _seriously _look. "Right. Just, um...what's the message?" Sam asks her.

"He had a vision," Becky says, turning her attention back to Sam. "'The Michael sword is on earth. The angels lost it.'"

"The Michael sword?" Dean says.

"Becky, does he know where it is?" Sam asks.

"In a castle, on a hill made of forty-two dogs." She recites from memory.

"Forty-two dogs?" I say.

"Are...you sure you got that right?" Sam asks her.

"It doesn't make sense, but that's what he said," she tells him. Becky takes a step closer to Sam to where she is standing awkwardly close to him. "I memorized every word." She reaches out and places a hand on his chest. "For you."

Sam glances over at me and Dean as we try to hide my laughter. "Um, Becky, c—uh, can you...quit touching me?" Sam says.

"No." She says quickly. She shuts her eyes and continues to feel Sam's chest, whimpering every now and then.

Finally, I can't take it anymore. "Alright sweetheart," I say standing up. I walk over to Becky and Sam and place my hands on Becky's shoulders. "Let me walk you out. Okay?" Before she can protest, I lead her out the door. "Okay, first of all, the chest feeling thing? Came off a little creepy," I tell her as we walk down the hallway. "Not judging you though cause I totally wanted to do the same thing when I met them."

"I know, right?" she says excitedly.

I wave a hand at her to calm her down. "Not what I brought you out here for though," I say. "Do you have Chuck's number?"

"Yeah," she says. She digs around in her purse and pulls out a scrap piece of paper and pen, jotting down a number. "Can I ask you a question?" she says handing me the paper.

"Uh, sure," I say putting it in my pocket. "What's up?"

"Are you and Dean like…together?" she asks with a nervous smile.

"Um…" I say. "I don't know if that's really any of your-"

"I mean, I totally ship it if you guys are," she starts saying quickly, growing excited. "Cause you two just look so adorable together and-oh my gosh!"

"What?" I say arching an eyebrow at her.

"Nothing," she says quickly. "I just need to get home to my laptop now. I just got an idea for a new story!"

"Okay…" I say as she walks past me down the hall.

"Oh," she says turning back around. "What did you say your name is?"

"I didn't," I say. "It's Rhiannon, Rhiannon Opole."

"Okay, great!" she says, a smile on her face. She waves at me brightly as she starts back down the hall. "Bye Rhiannon!"

I give her a half-smile and wave as she disappears. "What took you so long?" Dean says when I walk back in the room.

"Just some girl talk," I say. Dean gives me a look like he doesn't believe me as he turns and puts away his gun. The rest of the evening is spent with Sam scouring through John's journal, Dean cleaning his guns, and me waiting for them to fall asleep. Finally, Dean puts away his stuff and passes out on one of the beds and minutes later I see Sam's head slump over on the table.

Quietly, I slide off the bed and slip my shoes on. I scribble out a note to the boys before I grab some cash out of Dean's wallet and his phone. Before I slip out the door, I give them one last look. Outside the building, I let out a sigh of relief that I made it out past them. I walk down the road until I find a library and walk inside. Inside, I find an empty computer and plug in Chuck's phone number. "Thank you internet," I mumble as I scribble down the address it gave me. Once I leave the library, I start down the road again.

I finally find my destination as I come up to a car rental place. The guy inside helps me pick out a small suv before handing over the keys. Once I have the keys in hand, I climb in the driver's seat and head down the road, pointing the wheels out of town.

As soon as I hear the phone ring, I know who it is. "Don't yell at me Dean," I say after pressing the phone to my ear.

"Don't yell at you?" he yells into the phone. "Damn right I'm going to yell at you! I wake up to find you gone with only a crappy note saying you had to go and you'd call? Where the hell are you?"

I let out a sigh before answering. "I'm heading to Kripke Hollow."

"What for?" he roars into the phone.

"To talk to Chuck," I say.

"So help me Rhi if you don't start answering me I will-" I cut him off by ending the phone call.

A minute later the phone starts ringing again. "I promise you Dean if you yell at me one more time, I will throw this phone out the window," I say into the phone.

He lets out a grunt. "Fine," he grunts. "Rhi, _please _tell me why you're going to Chuck's."

"To try and get some answers," I say. "I'm tired of just sitting there, wanting answers, but not doing anything about it."

He lets out a sigh this time. "Why didn't you just tell me this," he says quietly. I hear a door click shut in the background and can imagine him shutting himself in the bathroom so that Sam couldn't hear him.

"Cause I knew you wouldn't let me go," I say.

"I would've come with you," he says.

I let out a sigh. "No Dean," I say. "You need to stay there, work out whatever is going on with Sam, and get that info from Bobby. I'll call you after I talk to Chuck, okay?"

"Alright," he says. "Just keep that hex bag with you."

"I will," I say. "Try not to get in another fight with Sam."

He lets out a little chuckle. "No promises," he says before ending the phone call. I let a smile creep on my face as I toss the phone into the passenger seat.

Hours later I finally arrive at the address. I walk up to the front door and knock on it. I listen to the sound of bottles rolling around and somebody tripping over stuff. A very bedraggled looking Chuck opens the door. "Chuck?" I ask.

"So, you actually hung up on Dean?" he says leaning against the door jam. I arch an eyebrow at him, silently asking how he knew that. "I saw you coming," he says. "Come on in," he says waving me in.

I follow him into the house, taking in the knocked over chairs and numerous empty bottles of whiskey. "So, if you saw me coming," I say. "I guess you know why I'm here."

He lets out a sigh as he sits down at a computer. "Yeah, I know," he says. "But I can't tell you. I can't reveal to you what is goin to happen in the future."

"I'm not asking to know what happens in the future," I say. "I want to know about the past. Surely when Zachariah took me back you had some sort of inner dialogue from his head going on and you can give me some sort of insight."

"I don't know…" he says warily. I could tell he wasn't going to give up the information easily.

I let out a sigh as I shrug out of my jacket and drop it on a nearby chair. "How about this, you give me the information I want, I give you something in return."

At my proposal, Chuck's eyes go wide. "I couldn't do that," he says. "Dean would kill me if he found out."

It took me a second longer than it should have to realize what he meant. "What? No!" I say holding my hands up. "I didn't mean that! No! I mean, no offense, you're a good looking guy and all in that introvert-writer way, but no!"

"You think I'm good looking?" he says with a smug grin.

"Chuck…"

"Sorry," he says quickly. "What did you mean then?"

"I meant I would cook you a decent meal," I say. I look around the room and gesture to all the wreckage. "Or help you clean up or something."

"That…" he says, considering my proposal. "I will take you up on that offer. I could go for a decent meal."

I give him a smile before reaching behind me and pulling my hair into a ponytail. "Yeah, you could do with a decent shave too," I say, sizing him up. "Head on upstairs and wash up, shave, the whole nine yards. I ain't havin no vagabond sitting at my table."

His eyes widen for a second before he shakes his head. "Yes ma'am," he says before scurrying up the stairs.

I let out a little chuckle as I watch him scurry away. "I like you Chuck," I mumble to myself. "Don't go changin."

A couple hours later and many, many helpings of food later, Chuck finally drops his napkin down on the plate and rubs his belly. "That was the best food I've ever had," he says.

"So, you got yours," I say sitting across from him at the table. "Now I get mine. Spill Hemingway."

He lets out a sigh as he pinches the bridge of his nose. "I didn't get much inner dialogue on Zachariah," he says. "But I did get a word…or a name…I'm not sure what it was."

"What was it?" I eagerly ask.

"Haniel," he says. "That was the only thing I got. Other than that, I only know what you know."

"That is good enough for me," I say giving him a huge smile. A name I could work with. I stand up from the table as Chuck does the same. "I need to be heading back to the boys. Hopefully they haven't-" Before I can finish my statement, I'm cut off by the sound of wings. Spinning around, I see Castiel standing there "Cas?" I say. "I-I-"

"Thought I was dead?" he finishes for me.

"Um, yeah," I say.

"I was," he says simply. "But someone brought me back. It's not safe for you to be here."

"What do you mean?" I ask him.

"You're being watched," he says. He walks up to me and places a hand on my stomach. Suddenly, I feel a painful fire rip through my chest. In a second it's gone.

"What was that?" I ask him, clutching at my stomach.

"I burned Enochian sigils into your ribs," he says. "They will make you invisible to any angel or demon, including Lucifer." Before I can say anything, he reaches into his pocket and pulls out a cell phone and dials a number. "We must get to Sam and Dean. A lot happened last night and Bobby is paralyzed.

"What?" I screech.

"Sam," Castiel says into the phone. "Where are you and Dean?" He waits a couple more seconds and then hangs up the phone. "Come," he says holding out a hand to me. I cautiously place my hand in his and then feel the familiar sensation of being teleported.

Once we land, without letting go of my hand, Castiel leads me down a hallway of a hospital until we come up to Sam and Dean who are standing at a doorway.

"Cell phone, Cas? Really? Since when do angels need to reach out and touch someone?" Dean says. Then he sees me and notices I'm holding hands with Castiel still. "Umm?" he says, glances at our intertwined hands.

"Oh," Castiel says, holding up our hands so they could see it better. "I thought it would be nicer than hitting her on the forehead." He says. Dean stares at him with a jealous look. Castiel doesn't pick up on it, so I wiggle my hand out from his grip. "Anyways, you're hidden from angels now—all angels. I won't be able to simply—"

"Enough foreplay," I hear Bobby grunt from inside the room. I look inside the room with the other three men to see Bobby sitting in a wheelchair facing the window. "Get over here and lay your damn hands on." No one moves as Bobby looks over his shoulder towards us. "Get healing. Now."

"I can't," Castiel says stepping into the room.

Bobby turns his chair to face Castiel better, giving him a drop-dead look. "Say again?"

"I'm cut off from heaven and much of heaven's power." Castiel says taking a couple steps towards Bobby. "Certain things I can do. Certain things I can't."

"You're telling me you lost your mojo just in time to get me stuck in this trap the rest of my life?" Bobby growls.

"I'm sorry," Castiel says, an extremely apologetic look washes over his face.

"Shove it up your ass," Bobby says, turning his chair away from us.

"At least he's talking now," Dean says with a smirk.

"I heard that." Bobby yells over his shoulder.

Castiel lets out a sigh before walking back over to me, Sam, and Dean. "I don't have much time. We need to talk."

"Okay." Dean says, crossing his arms over his chest.

"Your plan to kill Lucifer."

"Yeah. You want to help?" Dean says.

"No. It's foolish. It can't be done." Castiel states with a shake of his head.

"Oh. Thanks for the support." Dean says sarcastically.

"But I believe I have the solution. There is someone besides Michael strong enough to take on Lucifer." Castiel says. "Strong enough to stop the apocalypse."

"Who's that?" I ask.

"The one who resurrected me and put Sam and Dean on that airplane. The one who began everything." Castiel says. "God." Sam, Dean, and I look at each other skeptically. "I'm gonna find God."

Dean closes the door to the room before turning back to Castiel. "God?"

"Yes."

"God." Dean says again. Even I was having a hard time believing him.

"Yes!" Castiel says getting frustrated. "He isn't in heaven. He has to be somewhere."

"Try New Mexico. I hear he's on a tortilla." Dean says, being sarcastic again.

"No, he's not on any flatbread." Castiel says, being completely serious.

"Listen, Chuckles, even if there is a God, he is either dead—and that's the generous theory—" Dean says.

"He is out there, Dean." Castiel cuts him off.

"—or he's up and kicking and doesn't give a rat's ass about any of us." Dean says, finishing his thought. Castiel glares at him, not wanting to believe him. "I mean, look around you, man. The world is in the toilet. We are literally at the end of days here, and he's off somewhere drinking booze out of a coconut. All right?"

"Enough." Castiel says. "This is not a theological issue. It's strategic. With God's help, we can win."

"It's a pipe dream, Cas." Dean says.

Castiel charges towards Dean and gets in his face. "I killed two angels this week. My brothers. I'm hunted. I rebelled. And I did it, all of it, for you, and you failed. You and your brother destroyed the world—" I look over at Sam who hangs his head. "—and I lost everything, for nothing. So keep your opinions to yourself."

"You didn't drop in just to tear us a new hole. What is it you want?" Bobby grunts. I turn to look at him and see him rolling around to face us.

"I did come for something. An amulet." Castiel says.

"An amulet? What kind?" I ask.

"Very rare. Very powerful." Castiel tells me. "It burns hot in God's presence. It'll help me find him."

"A God EMF?" Sam asks. Castiel nods his head at him.

"Well, I don't know what you're talking about." Bobby says. "I got nothing like that."

"I know. You don't." Castiel says. He turns to look at Dean, and drops his eyes to look at the necklace Dean was wearing.

"What, this?" Dean asks, flicking the amulet.

Castiel holds his hand out like a beggar. "May I borrow it?"

"No." Dean grunts.

"Dean. Give it to me." Castiel grunts back.

Dean has a stare down with Castiel, and then realizes he was serious. He lets out a sigh as he takes the necklace off. "All right, I guess." He goes to drop it in Castiel hands, but pulls it back when Castiel moves to grab it. "Don't lose it." Dean says. He waits a couple seconds and then drops it in Castiel's hand. "Great. Now I feel naked."

"I'll be in touch." Castiel places the necklace in his pocket. Dean gives him a nod as Castiel gives me and Sam one more look before disappearing.

All of are silent for a few seconds until Bobby speaks up. "When you find God, tell him to send legs!"

I let out a sigh as Bobby spins the chair back around. Suddenly, I feel the presence of someone standing right behind me. They put their hands on my shoulders before leaning down. "By the way," Dean whispers low into my ear. "You are in so much trouble for running away."

I turn my head slightly to see his face right next to mine. I swallow hard as he gives me a wink and then walks over to Bobby. _Crap._


End file.
